Icon Generator

Everything about generating icons — styles, prompts, flags, and colors.

Generating Icons

Navigate to the Create Icons page and enter a description in the text area.

Writing Good Prompts

  • Be specific: "coffee cup with steam" works better than just "coffee"
  • Keep it simple: Focus on one main object or concept
  • Use common objects: The AI excels at recognizable items and symbols
  • Describe the action: "rocket launching" vs "rocket" gives different results

Example Prompts

hot coffee cup shopping cart user profile heart with pulse lightning bolt open book cloud with arrow padlock security

Icon Styles

Iconly offers five core icon styles plus preset templates:

Core Styles

Line Art

Clean, minimalist icons with uniform stroke weights. Perfect for modern interfaces and apps.

Solid Glyph

Filled icons with solid shapes. Great for bold, high-contrast designs and small sizes.

Outline

Thin outlined shapes with minimal design. Ideal for elegant, professional looks.

Pixel Art

8-bit retro-style pixelated icons. Perfect for gaming interfaces or nostalgic designs.

Isometric

3D isometric perspective icons with depth. Great for modern apps and illustrations.

Preset Templates

Beyond the core styles, Iconly includes 20+ preset templates for specialized looks:

  • Glassmorphism — Frosted glass with translucent panels
  • Duotone — Two complementary colors with strong contrast
  • Photorealistic — 3D rendered with studio lighting
  • 3D Clay — Soft rounded clay/plasticine forms
  • Low Poly — Faceted flat-shaded 3D surfaces
  • Hand Drawn — Ink sketch with organic lines
  • Neon Glow — Glowing neon tube lines
  • Anime — Cel-shaded with bold outlines
  • Sticker — Die-cut with thick white outline border
  • Pop Art — Vivid colors and thick outlines
  • Watercolor — Translucent watercolor washes
  • Art Deco — Geometric symmetry with gold accents
  • And more: Cute, Retro Vintage, Paper Cut, Embroidery, Oil Painting, Stained Glass, Woodcut, Botanical, Metallic Chrome, Product Shot

Select your preferred style from the dropdown menu before generating. Preset templates automatically apply optimized settings for color, detail level, and output size.

Prompt Flags

Flags are special modifiers you add to your prompts using the --flag syntax for advanced control.

Flag
Description
--color
Generate a colorful icon instead of black. The AI chooses appropriate colors based on the subject.
--detail-low
Ultra-minimal icon with basic geometric shapes only.
--detail-medium
Balanced icon with moderate detail. A good middle ground.
--detail-high
Highly detailed, intricate icon with fine details.
--bias-color
Bias the palette toward a specific color (e.g., --bias-red, --bias-blue, --bias-gold).

Usage Examples

coffee cup --color rocket --detail-high minimalist bell --detail-low sunset landscape --bias-orange ocean wave --color --bias-blue

Tip: You can combine multiple flags. For example, cat --color --detail-high generates a colorful, detailed cat icon.

Flag Groups

Some flags are mutually exclusive within their group:

  • Detail group: --detail-low, --detail-medium, --detail-high (only one applies)
  • Bias group: Only one --bias-color at a time

Note: When you type a valid flag, it appears as a tag above the input field. Click the X on any tag to remove it.

Colors

Setting Color Before Generation

Click the color circle in the input bar to open the color picker. Choose from the preset palette or enter a custom hex code (e.g., #3B82F6). Icons are generated in black by default — selecting a color will recolor the icon after generation.

Model Quality

You can choose between two AI models from the quality toggle:

  • Standard (~6 tokens) — Fast generation, great for most use cases
  • Premium (~20 tokens) — Higher quality output, better for complex or detailed icons