Why you should not waste time designing your own stock icons

Computer graphics have evolved constantly over the past 10 years, from simple 2D bitmap files with a few hundred colors to complex 3D designs and animations with color spaces hardy caught by the human eye. Today it's really impossible to think of a modern magazine or website created without using computer graphics. The newest technologies and high resolution rates allow designers to can use high-detail true color alpha-blended icons when designing complex user interfaces; however, creating such quality icons can prove to be a real pain when not using the proper tools. And of course, such high-quality graphics requires advanced design software that costs a lot of money, making its purchasing very difficult for the average individual or small businesses, who will become virtually cut off from the latest technologies due to the software's high prices. Furthermore, when it comes to small businesses, some people may consider buying such software a total waste of money, it the company activity does not focus on graphics.

Fortunately, there is a faster, easier and cheaper way for getting the graphics you need for your applications. Using a predefined stock of icons has become very popular today, especially because it's very easy to browse for the icons you need on the Internet, and then buy the ones that you need. And when it comes to "doing it yourself", most developers do not have the time, the skills or the money to purchase an advanced graphics application and create the icons themselves. Moreover, there are people that always use the services of professional graphics designer or companies, because they know that the money they pay for such services are well spent, and they receive high-quality work.

There are a few good reasons why you should not waste time designing your own stock icons. For starters, you will need to purchase a good graphics application. But why purchase? Run a search on the Internet and you'll probably find a few hundred applications that allow you to create icons and similar graphics. Well, after you'll waste your time downloading and trying to use some of those applications you'll find out that nothing is working out how you wanted it to. Hmmm, maybe you don't have know how to do it? Don't worry, you can always buy an e-book about creating computer graphics. After that, you'll need to read it, keep practicing for a while, and eventually, after a lot of work and money "well spent", you'll might be able to create the icons you wanted. Now you got to ask yourself: is the effort and the money worth a few icons? The answer is obvious.

Another good reason why you should not waste time and design your own stock icons is the quality of the icons you'll receive from a designer. Unless you spend everyday creating graphics, you won't be able to reach the quality of the professional predefined stock of icons that you can purchase from a graphics designer. Some people are really not skilled for graphics, but it's their choice if they accept this before or after they had put in a lot of money and work in an eventually failed process of creating their own icons.

So how long does it really take to create you own stock icons? A day? Two days? Five days? Twenty days? Well, as you've read above, it all depends on your graphic skills and they money you are willing to spend. If you have the time, you can always give it a shot. Who knows, you might find out they you should have been in the graphics business all along. But then again, you might find out that you have spent all this time in vain. And we all know that time is money. Your money that is. When it comes to designing your own stock icons or buying a professional predefined stock of icons, it's not an easy choice and you should think about it very carefully. Today's developers work under very tight deadlines, and if you're one of them then you should play it safe.

There is really no reason why you shouldn't purchase a predefined stock of icons. Aside for the reasons explained above (money, time, quality), there is also the possibility of browsing the available icons and checking out the different designs, and then choosing the ones that you think it will integrate best with the application you are developing. Furthermore, in many cases you can get these icons in different file formats, so you can use them in multiple of applications, no matter the platform under which the application must be executed.

Using icons in application has become a "must" lately. Computer users are no longer looking for the description of a certain application task, they look at the icon and they know exactly what that task is supposed to do, so it is very important to have quality icons that will make your applications easier to use. Icons are also very important when first starting to use an application. If the application uses similar icons that people are used to (for example a disk icon for saving files), then they will learn how to use that application a lot faster. Icons serve as visual mnemonics, which means that when we look at an icon, the image is associated with a specific task. Moreover, viewing icons is a lot faster than reading a text description, so it's easy to tell why people prefer graphics over text. This is yet another reason why you should not waste time designing your own stock icons and get a predefined stock of icons.