Introducing Zest: a bold & refreshing modern icon set

508 high-quality icons for Web and Mobile
John Long
Zest Icons
Zest icon hero

I like to describe Zest as a modern icon set that has been meticulously handcrafted for web and mobile. What makes Zest exceptional is the attention to detail. Zest was created with bold and simple aesthetic. It purposefully emulates the friendly styles of applications like Whimsical and the new Jira. The lines are thick so that they stand out. The geometry is rounded and exaggerated. Lined icons instead of solid shapes give the set a remarkable consistency.

Zest is designed to be an alternative to Font Awesome and a drop in replacement for Material Icons.

Like Material Icons, all icons are rendered pixel perfect at 24x24 pixels (or multiples thereof). These dimensions mean that the icons are the perfect size for Mobile applications and work well on buttons and tab bars in iOS and Android. They also are a wonderful size for websites and web apps.

Unlike Font Awesome, the icons are all aligned to the pixel grid to prevent the unwanted blurring of edges. (Font Awesome uses 1.5 pixel strokes for many icons which is especially noticeable on low density displays.)

Zest icon benefits

I chose to use 2-pixel strokes for Zest which lends itself to simpler bolder shapes. The terminals (line endings) of each stroke are also rounded which adds to the beauty of the icons on high-density displays (retina).

Hand icon resolution
Hand icon at 1x and 3x showing the differences between standard and hi-density rendering. Rounded terminals (line endings) on the inside of the hand create a much friendlier look and feel.

Zest has been designed with the modern Product Designer in mind. You’ll find nearly all of the standard icons that you’d expect for applications, including: file and folder icons, date and time icons, settings icons, and symbol icons for things like signing in and out. You’ll also find a full set of WYSIWYG icons and variety of chart and graph icons.

Zest icon grid
Zest has a wide selection of icons designed for the modern applications.

Zest also includes a large selection of brand icons which are available for free as part of the Zest Social package. The brand icons are some of the icons that I am most proud of. In contrast to Font Awesome, which distributes scaled down versions of logos, the Zest brand icons have been designed as a set and use consistent line widths and rounding. I’ve tried to maintain the character of the original logos while at the same time aligning the visual style.

Zest social icons
Zest includes 39 line icons of common brands perfect for social links.

Another category that I had a lot of fun with are the Adventure icons. You’ll see icons based on a few of my favorite classic video games. I’m really looking forward to seeing some of the creative ways that they are used in the future.

Zest adventure icons

But Zest has many other categories to choose from as well. 23 in total. From Sports to Money, from Board Games to Travel, from Music to Food & Drink, Zest has a little something for everyone.

Zest categories

Zest icons number over 500 and span 23 categories.

Zest is available in two packages:

  • Zest Social includes all of the brand icons. It’s also available under the MIT License which means it’s completely free.

  • Zest Pro includes all 508 icons. It’s available for $99 and is royalty free. Zest Pro also includes Sketch and Figma components.

Both packages include SVGs and PNGs and are available on NPM with a JavaScript API.

Zest is the culmination of months of effort to create and optimize a new vision of what a modern icon set should be. I’m proud to have worked on this set and am anxious to discover what other people think of it as well!

Learn more about Zest and view all 508 icons at ZestIcons.com.

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