With the advent of
Skype and
cheap mobile phones, the old telephone booth is a thing of the past, but to stick a freshly printed
free icon of a corded phone that you downloaded off of the internet onto the side of a telephone booth that no longer works? Priceless…
The benefits are priceless too…
- Create a telecommunications software that nobody needs—and add a free phone icon as the program's launcher icon.
- Even if you see them on Skype, send your friend an email telling them to call you—if that makes any sense—with a phone icon at the header.
- Spam your newsfeed on social media with a free, old, corded phone and boast about it like it's the next big thing—of course until everyone unfriends or unfollows you.
The possibilities are endless!
Which Phone Icon to Use?
This piece explains which telephone icon to use in the user interfaces.
First of all, the icon changed a lot for the last 15 years. When I started 15 years ago, we had the classic dial telephones on the icons. Not that we were using them, but the memory was fresh. I used to draw a lot of these phones in Windows XP style for our customers.
Right now, dial phones are no use probably. Interestengly, for 4 years since we started Icons8, no one ever ordered a dial phone icon.
Phone Receiver is for Voice Calls
For anything related to voice calls, use the old phone receiver. Will it be still in use in 15 years?
Feature Phone is for Very Limited Use
You may use it when you want to explicitly specify a '
dumbphone'. You should not use it for anything else, probably.
Smartphones are to Refer to Handsets
If you refer to the phone like a gadget, not a phone number, use a
smartphone icon /
cell phone icon / mobile icon.
They are great to refer to anything like:
- Send to a mobile phone (like sending a location in Google Maps)
- Mobile apps
- Mobile data plans
- Pairing the gadgets, etc.
We've got a bunch of smartphones for specific use:
generic one,
Android,
iPhone,
tablets, and combinations of all kinds.
And the final tip: no
Blackberries, please.
