Icon Libraries Worth Considering Beyond Google Material Symbols
A shortlist of flexible SVG icon libraries for future use on the site.
I’m not planning to use Google Material Symbols on this site for now. Since this is a personal site with individually styled blog posts, sections, and future product pages, inline SVG feels like the better fit: lighter weight, easier to customize, and less tied to one rigid visual system.
This is a short shortlist of icon libraries I want to keep in mind for future use, especially when I want a stronger visual personality than the very neutral system-icon look.
Why I’m leaning toward inline SVG
Inline SVG gives me a few advantages that matter on a site like this:
- I can style each icon differently depending on the page or section.
- I’m not forced into loading a full icon font or library.
- I can tweak stroke width, fills, rounded corners, gradients, and even animate icons if I want.
- It keeps me free to mix icon styles across the site rather than committing to a single UI system.
For a personal site with distinct visual directions across posts, that flexibility matters more than strict consistency.
Feather Icons
Feather Icons are probably the cleanest example of a light, elegant line-based icon set. They have a restrained, editorial feel and work especially well when I want something simple and airy rather than loud or overly “app-like.”
Why I like them:
- very light visual footprint
- elegant line quality
- easy to restyle with stroke width and color
- good for understated UI
Potential downside:
- maybe a bit too restrained if I want something more distinctive
Lucide
Lucide is effectively the modern continuation of the Feather approach, but with a broader library and a more actively expanded ecosystem. If I wanted one “default utility icon set” without going bland, Lucide would be a strong candidate.
Why I like it:
- clean and modern
- larger set than Feather
- still flexible and minimal
- probably the easiest all-rounder
Potential downside:
- still fairly neutral, so it may not always feel unique enough for more expressive sections
Tabler Icons
Tabler Icons feel more structured and geometric than Feather or Lucide. They still look clean, but there’s a bit more weight and clarity in the forms, which can be useful when I want UI icons to feel stronger and more deliberate.
Why I like them:
- crisp geometry
- strong legibility
- lots of icons available
- easy to customize stroke and size
Potential downside:
- can feel a bit more “product UI” than “editorial” if overused
Phosphor Icons
Phosphor is much more expressive than the lighter outline-only sets. It includes multiple weights and styles, which makes it interesting if I want icons that can shift tone between playful, bold, polished, or diagrammatic.
Why I like them:
- more personality
- multiple weights and styles
- versatile for different moods
- useful if I want icons to be part of the visual voice, not just utility markers
Potential downside:
- may feel too polished or productized in places where I want something rougher or more bespoke
Iconoir
Iconoir has a slightly more fashion/editorial feel than many of the standard UI icon sets. It feels a bit less generic, which makes it interesting for a personal site where I don’t want everything to look like a dashboard or component library.
Why I like it:
- more distinctive visual character
- still clean and usable
- strong option for design-led pages
Potential downside:
- less universally neutral, which is a plus or a minus depending on the page
Remix Icon
Remix Icon is broader and more system-like, but it’s polished and dependable. It offers both outlined and filled styles, and it can work well when I need something straightforward and readable without too much fuss.
Why I like it:
- broad coverage
- polished set
- useful for practical UI cases
- both outline and filled styles
Potential downside:
- less unique than the more characterful libraries
Radix Icons
Radix Icons are sharp, tiny, and very UI-oriented. These are probably best for controls, menus, toggles, and interface details rather than for decorative or expressive moments.
Why I like them:
- crisp at small sizes
- practical for controls and dense UI
- very usable for utility patterns
Potential downside:
- not especially expressive
- probably too system-focused for hero or editorial use
My current takeaway
Right now, I think the best approach for this site is:
- use inline SVG by default
- borrow selectively from icon libraries rather than adopting one wholesale
- keep utility icons simple
- make more expressive or section-specific icons bespoke when needed
If I end up standardizing anything later, the strongest candidates for me right now are:
- Lucide for a versatile base set
- Tabler for sharper UI moments
- Iconoir for a more styled/design-forward feel
- Phosphor for more expressive accents
Likely next step
The most practical next move is probably to build up a small local SVG collection of only the icons I actually use, rather than loading any icon library at all. That gives me the best of both worlds: fast pages, visual control, and zero pressure to stay stylistically consistent across very different parts of the site.