Based on the provided reference from the IBM Design Language, icons are typically designed and provided in specific, optimized sizes.
The exact answer, according to the reference, is that icons have been designed to work best in four distinct sizes: 16px, 20px, 24px, and 32px.
Understanding Icon Sizes
The IBM Design Language specifies standard sizes for its UI icons to ensure visual consistency and optimal performance across various applications and interfaces. Adhering to these defined sizes helps maintain balance and readability, especially when icons are paired with text.
Here are the standard icon sizes recommended:
| Icon Size | Usage Notes |
|---|---|
| 16px | Optimized to feel balanced when paired with 14pt text |
| 20px | Optimized to feel balanced when paired with 16pt text |
| 24px | Standard size |
| 32px | Larger applications |
Source: UI icons - IBM Design Language
Why Use Specific Icon Sizes?
Using icons at their originally produced size is crucial for maintaining their intended visual fidelity and clarity. Scaling icons, especially pixel-based ones, can lead to blurring or distortion. The provided sizes are carefully crafted to ensure sharpness and legibility.
- Visual Harmony: Specific sizes like 16px and 20px are optimized to visually align and balance with common text sizes (14pt and 16pt IBM Plex, respectively), creating a harmonious user interface.
- Performance: Using icons at their native size can sometimes improve rendering performance.
- Consistency: Standardized sizes ensure a consistent look and feel throughout a product or system, which is a cornerstone of effective design language.
Icons in the IBM Design Language are provided in flexible formats like SVG and Adobe Illustrator files. These vector formats allow for some scaling, but the reference emphasizes using them at their "originally produced size" for the best results, referring back to the 16px, 20px, 24px, and 32px dimensions.
To ensure the best visual outcome, always use the icon size that is most appropriate for the context within these recommended dimensions.
