Icons

Bygger på: Colour, Typography, Voice, Constant / Contextual, Emotional Modes, Bildspråk

Draft — unverified translation. Machine-assisted English translation of the Swedish canonical page foundation/iconography.md (Swedish title "Ikoner"). This source page is itself a draft scaffold — most sections are author prompts (instructions to Torfinn), not finished prose. Those prompts are translated here so the English draft stays parallel; they are not brand content. Do not treat as canonical or stakeholder-facing.

Status note: This page is draft. The structure and the questions are in place; Torfinn writes what goes in the sections during a focused session. The allowlist in baseline/iconography/allowlist.json is seed material — not curated. See planning/f11-briefing-iconography.md for the briefing that frames the work.

Why icons look the way they do at Aleris

[Author prompt: An opening in the same spirit as F10 Imagery. What do icons do in a brand that prioritises calm? Why at all — and what do we lose if we use them wrong? Argue for their role without selling them in. The "close expert" tone — matter-of-fact and warm.]

What icons do — and don't do

[Author prompt: Four categories icons can carry: guidance, status, category, action. For each — a sentence on what it does, a concrete Aleris example, a counter-example. Then a clear anti-list: the icon as decoration, the icon instead of an image, the icon as the sole carrier of meaning, the icon as metaphor.]

Guidance

Status

Category

Action

Constant and contextual

Constant — what always applies

[Author prompt: The rules that don't bend. Proposals from the briefing — confirm or replace:

  • Outline style, not filled. (Which FA Pro family? Light or Regular?)
  • A single stroke weight across the whole system.
  • A single colour — inherits the text's colour.
  • Always with a text label, exception for utility chrome per a short list.
  • Only from the allowlist; new icons require a brand decision.]

Contextual — what is adapted

[Author prompt: Size (the relationship to typography — proposal 1.25× cap height, confirm), density (communicative surface vs instrumental surface), category mix (patient material vs internal tools). Written in the same style as F10's contextual sections.]

The allowlist as the standard

[Author prompt: Why we curate instead of letting authors choose freely. Where the list lives. How it grows — which threshold must be cleared before an icon is added. Who owns the editorial decision. The tone: "that friction isn't an obstacle, it's the point".]

The list lives in baseline/iconography/allowlist.json, with a visualisation at baseline/iconography/index.html.

Three principles that became clear through the v1 curation

[Author prompt: Three brand positions that became visible through the choices in Session A and B (2026-04-30). They are concrete examples of the allowlist discipline — real choices that reflect where Aleris stands. Write them out in Aleris tone, one short paragraph each.]

  1. We lean into the future — the example is mobile-screen chosen over the classic telephone handset. What does that mean for how icons signal the brand's position in time, not just function?

  2. Wait until it's needed — the example is the time category with only clock (no hourglass, stopwatch, history arrows in v1). How is a lean category disciplined restraint rather than a gap?

  3. Specialist domain, not UI affordance — the example is eye, which exists in v1 but only as a clinical domain (eye clinic), not as "show password". How does the allowlist keep the distinction clean between what the content is about and what the user does?

What Aleris icons are not

[Author prompt: Anti-list in F10 format. Three to four points with clear "not" formulations. Proposals to start from:

  • Not decorative flourishes.
  • Not a replacement for images with people.
  • Not metaphorical clichés (lightbulb = idea, rocket = launch).
  • Not colour carriers. Not the sole carrier of meaning. Not playful.]

Quick test

Before you place an icon:

  1. [Author prompt: Is the text already clear? — if yes, the icon is decoration.]
  2. [Author prompt: Is the symbolism conventional? — if the reader has to think, the text language is better.]
  3. [Author prompt: Would the icon hold up on the calmest Aleris surface? — if it feels cluttered on patient information, it doesn't belong.]

[Author prompt: Closing paragraph in the spirit of F10. A single sentence or two summarising why iconography belongs in Foundation and isn't a technical implementation question. The tonal signature.]