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18 Comments

Would you pay for an icon font?

I have recently made an icon font called SMPLKit. It has 200 icons, in a distinct sharp 2px style. I'm at loss on which direction to develop it further. And more importantly, even if I do, if it is something that designers would pay for.

Here's the link to my icon font: https://smplkit.com

  1. 2

    100% depends on the stage of the business. If I’m pre-revenue there is no way I’d pay for something like an icon set when there is so many free options.

    However, if I’m post revenue and your icons fit my needs I’d of course pay for it.

  2. 2

    The answer to stuff like this is usually yes

    You'd be surprised what people will pay for :) plus those are nice looking icons and I've spent money on worse looking things.

    Getting people to buy is all about distribution (how can get the product in front of the audience most likely to buy it). For example popular designers can sell anything even if free options exist

    1. 1

      Thanks Alicia!

      I'm planning to add a few more icons and make a paid variant (the current one is free) and then I'll push on the distribution.

  3. 2

    Sure, if:

    1. it fits the style I need
    2. can find all icons I need
    3. it's reasonably priced one time sale

    Like the website :).

    1. 1

      Thanks, Josef – that makes a lot of sense.

  4. 2

    I pay for a fontawesome subscription since it gives me access to additional icons and styles. I think people are willing to pay for high quality design assets for sure.

    1. 1

      Thanks Joe. That's good to hear.

      I think to reach a level where people consider buying I might need to scale up the icon count, provide multiple weights etc.

      Quick question: if FontAwesome didn't offer flows for developer integration (for instance how to integration in HTML/React/Vue etc.), would that be a deal breaker?

      1. 2

        It's not a deal breaker but it makes things easier to get started.

        You should also investigate hosting them on a CDN so people can try them out quickly with just some copying and pasting.

        It is also really handy when I search for an icon on fontawesome, it gives me the full html I need to drop in. e.g.
        <i class="far fa-person-sign"></i>

        1. 1

          Oh yes, those should definitely help. I'm working on a V2 paid version (this one was open source) and I will definitely include these.

  5. 2

    The icons look nice, although I doubt they would fit my app that well.
    In general, I wouldn't pay for icons most likely, at least right now. If my app was successful though, I definitely would.

    1. 1

      Thanks for the feedback, Philipp. I understand the style right now is kinda' limited.

      If the icons had multiple weight variations and a rounded edges option, would that help in matching them with your app?

      1. 2

        My app (Tag My Knowledge) has more of a rounded style, so I guess that would help. However, the icons right now look pretty good already, so it's probably better to market them instead of designing different styles.

        1. 1

          Yes, I think so too.

          I have_just_ started sharing it on Reddit and other Design forums. The response has been pretty good so far.

          On the parallel, I'm planning to add more weights and add a paid tier (the current set is open-source). Let's hope that goes well.

  6. 1

    The icons looks okay, but nothing special. I use fontawesome and ant.design free icons and I don't see why I would pay for your set.

    1. 1

      Gotcha'. Thanks for the feedback

      1. 1

        I wish you good luck with your project.

  7. 1

    Well, you're far beyond a MVP, and seeing usage patterns/which icons are popular/used should give you a direction IMO.

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