Finding an icon is usually straightforward. Finding six icons that look like they belong in the same interface takes a little more work.
Consider a file manager built with React. You might need icons for folders, files, search, settings, and a few common actions.
Each icon can look perfectly fine on its own. But put them next to each other and small differences start to appear: one has a heavier stroke, another uses different proportions, and a third looks noticeably smaller despite having the same CSS dimensions.
The problem isn't necessarily the individual icons. It's the way they work together.
Here's a practical approach to selecting a consistent set, using a React filebar as an example.
1. Start with the interface, not the icon library
Before searching for icons, write down what the interface actually needs.
For a file-management UI, that might include:
- A folder
- A document
- Search
- Settings
- Navigation actions
- File-related actions
This simple inventory makes the selection process easier.
It also helps avoid a common problem: choosing attractive icons individually and then discovering that they don't form a coherent set.
Think about where each icon will appear. A small toolbar button has different requirements from an illustration or a large empty-state graphic.
2. Choose a visual family
The simplest way to maintain consistency is to start with one icon family.
For our React filebar example, we used icons from Lucide.
Using one family provides a useful baseline for stroke style, proportions and general visual language.
That doesn't mean every icon automatically works well with every other icon. Some symbols have more visual weight because of their shape or complexity.
A magnifying glass may look heavier than a simple arrow, even when both share the same stroke width.
You still need to compare them at the size they'll actually use.
A few things worth checking:
Stroke weight. Do the outlines look equally heavy?
Proportions. Do the symbols occupy a similar amount of visual space?
Complexity. Is one icon much more detailed than its neighbors?
Recognition. Can users understand the meaning without having to think about it?
Style. Are you accidentally mixing filled, outlined and multicolor designs?
The goal isn't mathematical uniformity. It's visual consistency.
3. Search within the same family
Searching a large icon collection becomes more useful when you can narrow the results to a specific family.
For our demonstration, we used the SVGicons CLI to explore public icon metadata.
For example:
svgicons search "folder" --anonymous --icon-set lucide-svg-icons --limit 10 --json
And another search:
svgicons search "search" --anonymous --icon-set lucide-svg-icons --limit 10 --json
The --icon-set option restricts the search to a particular collection.
This helps when you want a consistent group rather than the most popular result from every available library.
The JSON output also makes the results easier to inspect in a terminal workflow or an automated process.
You can then compare candidates by name, collection and other available metadata.
An important distinction: anonymous search returns metadata, not the raw SVG files. Downloading SVG assets through the relevant SVGicons export workflows requires the appropriate Pro access.
In our example, the React application used existing, locally adapted Lucide components. The CLI was used for discovery and comparison, not to claim a completed anonymous SVG export.
4. Don't assume the first result is the right one
Icon search is useful, but rankings aren't a design decision.
The first result may have the correct name while being visually unsuitable for your interface.
For example, a search for "search" might return several variations of magnifying-glass icons, including symbols intended for different contexts.
Inspecting additional results can help.
With the SVGicons CLI, pagination is available using --limit and --offset:
svgicons search "search" --anonymous --icon-set lucide-svg-icons --limit 10 --offset 10 --json
This requests another page of results rather than relying only on the first ten matches.
The exact ordering of search results can change, so avoid building your selection process around a fixed ranking.
Once you have a candidate, verify that it communicates the action you intended.
A visually consistent icon that suggests the wrong action is still a bad choice.
5. Compare icons together at their actual size
This is where many icon-selection workflows fall short.
An icon previewed individually at a large size may look completely different when placed inside a compact toolbar.
Before making a final decision, put the icons next to one another.
For a React interface, a small reusable component can help:
type ToolbarButtonProps = {
label: string;
children: React.ReactNode;
};
function ToolbarButton({ label, children }: ToolbarButtonProps) {
return (
<button type="button" aria-label={label}>
{children}
</button>
);
}
Then use your selected icon components within the same button structure.
This makes it easier to compare the icons without differences in padding or button dimensions distracting you.
Look at the toolbar as a whole.
Does one symbol dominate? Does another almost disappear? Are some icons harder to distinguish at smaller sizes?
You may need to choose a different symbol within the same family.
That's usually preferable to mixing unrelated libraries just to find a shape you like.
6. Keep accessibility in the component contract
Icon consistency isn't only visual.
If an icon is the only content of a button, the button needs an accessible name.
For example:
<button type="button" aria-label="Open settings">
<SettingsIcon aria-hidden="true" />
</button>
Here, the button communicates the action, while the SVG is decorative.
This prevents the screen reader from having to interpret an unlabeled graphic.
For icons that convey meaningful information independently, the accessibility approach may be different.
The important point is to decide which element owns the accessible meaning instead of leaving it ambiguous.
7. Verify the finished React interface
For our SVGicons demonstration, we used an existing React filebar built with six Lucide icons.
The purpose wasn't to show that React could render SVG components. That's already well established.
We wanted to see how a group of icons, selected with a consistent visual language, worked in a realistic interface.
The workflow was:
- Identify the icon needs of the filebar.
- Explore candidates using SVGicons CLI.
- Compare icons within the Lucide family.
- Review the existing licensed React components.
- Check how they look together in the real interface.
The result is a practical example of why icon discovery and final UI review should be treated as connected steps.
You can explore the React example here:
SVGicons React Filebar on GitHub
The repository also includes the relevant licensing notices for the icon assets.
8. A checklist before shipping
Before committing your final icon choices, ask yourself:
- Do the icons communicate their intended actions?
- Do they belong to a consistent visual family?
- Are their proportions balanced at the intended size?
- Are they readable at small sizes?
- Are icon-only controls accessible?
- Are the icon licenses compatible with your project?
- Have you checked the actual application instead of relying only on individual previews?
You don't need an elaborate design-system review for every small interface.
But even a few minutes spent comparing icons together can prevent a lot of inconsistent UI details.
Final thoughts
A large icon collection makes finding candidates easier. It doesn't automatically make choosing them easier.
The useful workflow is to search, narrow down, compare, and verify in context.
For our React filebar, SVGicons CLI helped explore and compare icon metadata, while the existing Lucide components let us review the final result in a real interface.
That separation matters: discovering an icon, obtaining its asset, and integrating it into an application are related steps, but they're not the same operation.
A good icon set isn't just a collection of attractive symbols. It's a set of decisions that makes the interface feel coherent.
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Top comments (1)
I'd also check how the icons look in different UI states, not just side by side at their default appearance. An icon that looks clear normally can become hard to distinguish when it's disabled or selected. That seems especially important for compact toolbars.