Icon Sets Are Now Part of Fonts in Material Design

For many web developers, the prospect of Google incorporating icon sets as Material Design fonts was inevitable. On March 2, Google posted a blog update announcing the release of Material Icons along with support for open source sets. When we look at how widespread the use of emoticons has become, it is easy to understand the reasons that prompted Google to make this move, but not everyone is happy about it.

On a popular internet forum dedicated to discussing web design topics, there were concerns about the use of icon fonts may become problematic with regard to accessibility. It would be easy for inexperienced web developers to incorporate icon fonts without coding a fallback routine with the text that represents the symbol; this is for the benefit of website visitors who use screen readers so that they can get a description of the intent.

Some forum members were concerned about adding JavaScript calls when including icon fonts, but this was clarified to indicate that icon sets can be downloaded and placed into CSS folders for inline fetching. Alternatively, scalable vector graphic (SVG) icons would also make more sense from a performance point of view, particularly when dealing with outdated browsers.

One interesting aspect of the Google blog post announcing icon sets as fonts is the well-researched introduction explaining how online users are gradually moving towards the use of pictographs. Over the last few decades, we have been rediscovering iconography through the use of emoji and other forms of visual communications. Notwithstanding the strange cultural event that was "The Emoji Movie," it is becoming clear that we are moving towards a world where typography and iconography are merging.

Another topic of discussion that has become tangential to Google's Material Design is related to its prevalence. Some graphic designers believe that the flat look is on its way out. Even Microsoft is showing signs of a return to skeumorphism with drop shadows, fancy corners, and drop shadows. The Metro design of the defunct Windows Phone operating system is being gradually abandoned, and this is a trend that Google may choose follow in the near future. For more information click here https://material.io/blog/google-fonts-material-icons.