Red Hat icon system

In 2019, after the major rebrand of the company, a collaborative team of designers created an icon style for Red Hat. This style was used to build out a library of more than 300 icons.

Almost a year later, we re-evaluated the icon system and discovered consistency issues across the library. I worked on a team of 3 designers who refined the icon style, created more detailed guidelines and templates, and then recreated all 300+ icons in the refined system. The library now consists of nearly 400 unique, but consistent icons.

Six red icons on a black background.Six black icons on a gray background.Six white icons on a red background.
Illustration showing the template and grid for drawing a Red Hat icon.
Our icons were inconsistent, so we created a new template and drew all of them again. Then we created detailed guidelines for drawing and using them.
Comparison of icons before and after they were recreated using the new template and guidelines.Screenshots of pages from the "Creating a new icon" guidelines.
Screenshot of the lower section of the Red Hat standard icons brand standards page.Screenshot of the top of the Red Hat standard icons brand standards page.
To expand our logo system, we also created an "initiative logo" style that combines icons and text, plus detailed guidelines for using them.
Diagram showing different layouts of initiative logos.

Collaboration with Emma Eble and Cole Ferguson

Professional work

Red Hat Open Brand Project
Kay Yow Cancer Fund
Wolfline bus system
Pelorus
Red Hat icon system
We are Red Hat Week puzzles
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Personal work

Digital illustration
Photography
Biological illustration

Information

About
Resume
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Copyright © 2022 Ryan Williams

This is the personal portfolio website of Ryan Williams. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Red Hat, Inc., NC State University, the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, or others.

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