Icons from Around the World
Icons are extremely powerful visual cues. Even the simplest forms can provide precise communication, and unlike words, they transcend the boundaries of language.
Adobe Stock partnered with Design Crowd to host an icon design contest inspired by the diversity of cultures and customs around the world. Regardless of where you are in the world, creating content that is unique to your location and experience is a great way to differentiate yourself and stand out in the marketplace.
Here are a few tips on creating and selling icons on Adobe Stock.
Image source: Panchali / Adobe Stock
Keep a Consistent Theme and Style
Stock customers who are purchasing vector sets are expecting both aesthetic and thematic consistency. When bundling icons, think about how a buyer might use the individual icons in relation to each other. Colours and style should be consistent to ensure that icon sets look coherent.
Image source: Adam / Adobe Stock
Use Colours as Accents
Icons are often designed to be simple and easily recognisable. In the absence of minute details, the addition of even a single colour can add a notable accent to your designs. Keeping the colour palette small but unified will also help build consistency in your icon set.
Image source: PrabuANTASENA / Adobe Stock
Find Your Niche
Stock can be a competitive marketplace, and many successful contributors recommend developing a niche. Whether it’s specialising in a specific subject area, or defining a distinctive style, having unique content in your stock portfolio will help you stand out and build a customer base. Stock customers are always looking for authentic, local content, so think about if there’s something that’s unique to your culture or where you live. Browse the vector collection on Adobe Stock and see what’s already out there, and brainstorm gaps where your content could have an impact.
Create Vectors from Photographs
Photographs are a great way to get inspiration for your icon designs. You can turn photographs into vectors in a few easy steps.
You have two ways of uploading vectors to Adobe Stock: either as a standalone AI or EPS file, or as a zip folder that includes both the AI or EPS file and a JPEG for the thumbnail. In both cases, the minimum max file size is 45MB. When saving, make sure “Create PDF Compatible File” is checked.
See more submission details here.
Image source: dharmendra / Adobe Stock
Keyword Accurately
Keywords are arguably one of the most important aspects of stock submissions, as this is how buyers will find your icons to buy. Keywords should be relevant and accurate, and in order of priority. In addition to describing the subject matter of your icons, think about the style and theme, as well as any emotional keywords you can associate with your design. We recommend between 20-25 keywords, but it’s far more important to be accurate rather than have a long list of unrelated words.
Ready to sell your icons to a global marketplace? Upload them Adobe Stock today!