After the showcase of a collection of 3D icon designs, this time we would like to show something quite small but extremely beautiful. Like I said some of my previous articles, icon designing now has two directions: one is for huge icon designs with a lot of details, the other is for mini icons which are able to save space and give enough information. For example, the sizes of Windows icons, initially in Windows 95 there are only 2 sizes in each icon (16px and 32px). Now Windows 7 has been released, the icon sizes are from 16px to 256px. However, for web design or desktop application design, small icons are somehow still very useful, especially for listings and toolbar buttons.

To me, mini icons are all about sharpness and maintenance of details. Also the consistency of style is important. Here we summarised a number of very nice mini icon sets for you. Most of them are free resources, but please check the author website for the appropriate licensing information before you use them.

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