Icon

Icons add simple visual context so users can understand the context at a glance. They can help clarify a feature’s main purpose or draw attention to a commonly understood action. 

Remember that while visual cues like icons can help many people process the message, not everyone will benefit from them. Make sure your content is accessible to everyone by including a label or other text to make the message clear.

Component status

Figma

Released

Web (React)

Released

iOS (Swift)

n/a

Android (Kotlin)

n/a

Docs

Released

Content structure

Guidelines

Use labels

Not everyone will be able to see your carefully selected icon, no matter how perfectly its shape matches its meaning. Ensure everyone gets the same message by including a label with the icon.

The label should be short and match the meaning you want to convey with the icon.

You don’t need labels when the icon is just visually supporting a message that exists in text. In such cases, you should hide the icon from assistive technology.

See how it’s done in React:

import Stack from "@kiwicom/orbit-components/lib/Stack";
import Text from "@kiwicom/orbit-components/lib/Text";

(): React.Node => (
  <Stack>
    <Text>
      <Passengers ariaLabel="Passengers" /> 4
    </Text>
    <Text>
      <Airplane ariaHidden /> Flights
    </Text>
  </Stack>
)

Match the color

You can usually have icons inherit their color from the surrounding text. If you need a standalone icon, select from a status color or one of our icon colors:

import Stack from "@kiwicom/orbit-components/lib/Stack";
import Text from "@kiwicom/orbit-components/lib/Text";

(): React.Node => (
  <Stack direction="column">
    <Stack flex>
      <Stack flex>
        <Stack>
          <Text>Inherited color</Text>
          <Text type="success">
            <Airplane ariaLabel="Airplane" /> Price alerts
          </Text>
        </Stack>
      </Stack>
    </Stack>
    <Stack flex>
      <Stack>
        <Text>Primary</Text>
        <Airplane color="primary" ariaLabel="Airplane" />
      </Stack>
      <Stack>
        <Text>Secondary</Text>
        <Airplane color="secondary" ariaLabel="Airplane" />
      </Stack>
      <Stack>
        <Text>Teriary</Text>
        <Airplane color="tertiary" ariaLabel="Airplane" />
      </Stack>
      <Stack>
        <div />
      </Stack>
    </Stack>
    <Stack flex>
      <Stack>
        <Text>Informational</Text>
        <Airplane color="info" ariaLabel="Airplane" />
      </Stack>
      <Stack>
        <Text>Success</Text>
        <Airplane color="success" ariaLabel="Airplane" />
      </Stack>
      <Stack>
        <Text>Warning</Text>
        <Airplane color="warning" ariaLabel="Airplane" />
      </Stack>
      <Stack>
        <Text>Critical</Text>
        <Airplane color="critical" ariaLabel="Airplane" />
      </Stack>
    </Stack>
    <Stack flex>
      <Stack>
        <Text>Custom color</Text>
        <Airplane customColor="#ffc0cb" ariaLabel="Airplane" />
      </Stack>
    </Stack>
  </Stack>
)

Use interactive icons for interactions

Some icons (like plus [+] and close [×]), work well to show users that an interaction is possible (like adding an option or closing a dialog). Users are used to interacting with these icons, so they work well inside buttons.

Don’t use such icons in places where users can’t interact with them. This creates an expectation that clicking them will do something, which can lead to users being frustrated when nothing happens.

  #

Use similar icons for lists

When creating lists and other repeated structures, make sure to use icons that seem visually consistent. For example, to show steps taken and not, use check-circle and close-circle to present similar visual cues.

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List of all icons