Iconoklast.
From an idea to an icon worth refining.

I started with a simple need: generate and iterate on iconography easily and quickly. I framed two situations that the same workflow needed to support.

Maya

A product designer needs a new symbol, with room to explore what it should communicate.

Alex

A system designer needs to update a family without repeating every construction decision.

Shared need

Reach useful alternatives quickly, then keep control of the detail.

The friction continued after the first icon: matching its style, correcting a detail and deciding what to keep. I wanted those steps to feel like one continuous task.

Starting

Searching or drawing from scratch delays comparison.

Repeating

The same stroke, corner and spacing decisions recur across icons.

Continuing

Versions and feedback become harder to follow as alternatives accumulate.

I took Iconoklast from problem framing and solution ideation into a working web app, vibe coding with Codex and refining the interaction in the implementation.

Frame

Make creation and revision quicker without giving up the icon library’s visual language.

Explore

Connect a brief, shared standards, alternatives and explicit review.

Build & refine

Try the working flow, inspect the generated code and revise the parts that interrupt iteration.

I placed the standards beside the work so each new direction starts from the same constraints. The brief describes the meaning; the standards describe how it should look.

Construction

Grid, stroke, corners, spacing and padding shape the family.

Expression

Outlined, filled and combined treatments, palette and perspective guide the exploration.

Reuse

Presets carry the configuration; written session rules hold the decisions that controls cannot express.

I made alternatives part of the starting flow, then added a way to build on a selected icon. A useful direction should become the basis of the next request.

Describe

Write the intent and add visual references by upload, paste or drop.

Compare

Explore four to eight directions against the same standards.

Continue

Choose an icon, describe what to change or keep, and generate from its geometry.

Creating one new symbol and updating a set need different context. For a redesign, I kept each source icon beside its alternatives and shared the direction across the family.

Preserve

Keep the original geometry and intended meaning available for comparison.

Coordinate

Use common standards, rules and family references across selected icons.

Review

Judge both the individual symbol and how it belongs beside its neighbours.

I connected review decisions to reusable session rules. A rejection reason or an accepted edit gives the AI evidence to suggest a rule; the designer decides whether that rule is useful.

Explain

A written reason makes the requested correction specific.

Inspect

Read the proposed rule and change its wording before approving it.

Apply

Only approved suggestions join the guidance for future requests. This is session context, not model training.

Generating again is not always the right correction. I built direct vector editing into the same workflow so a designer can resolve geometry precisely.

Edit

Move anchors and paths, adjust curves, corners and appearance.

Arrange

Duplicate, group, align to a reference and distribute repeated geometry.

Return

Save a new round for review. Keep the earlier version and confirm that the save succeeded.

Iteration exposed an unnecessary constraint: choosing another direction could undo an earlier choice. I made acceptance independent and kept accepted icons through new rounds.

Workbench

Explore alternatives, refine a direction and return to earlier rounds.

Library

See the accepted collection, including multiple useful versions of one icon.

Deliver

Export editable SVGs with a sprite and manifest. Find saved work again through named sessions and the archive.

The initial idea was to generate and refactor icons. Building it made the space between generations more important: the chosen direction, the correction and the work already accepted.

Working outcome

A connected workflow for creating, revising, reviewing and exporting iconography.

Design learning

Faster exploration needs precise control and a dependable way to keep progress.

Next evaluation

Watch designers complete a real icon task; assess iteration time, correction effort and fit within the family.