New Free Plug-in: SF Symbol Template

Blog
by Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer

2 October 2019

Are you an interface and/or icon designer? If so, chances are you have seen Apple’s SF Symbols presentation during the most recent WWDC.

With symbols in the UI, there is one big challenge, and that is pairing symbols with text. Stroke widths, positions and sizes are hard to match properly. So we need a kind of variable icon that can adapt its appearance to the text surrounding it. This is exactly what Apple did for the upcoming iOS 13 and macOS Catalina: an icon system that can adapt optimally to the system typeface, aptly named SF Symbols. A coder can use a method for placing such a symbol inside text, and at the same make sure the correct version is being used.

The best thing about it: you can make use of Apple’s system for your own icons! And the best way to do that is, you guessed it, with Glyphs. All you need is the new and free SF Symbol Template plug-in, and Apple’s new and free SF Symbols app.

And how exactly would you use those apps and plug-ins? That is explained in the new tutorial: Creating an SF Symbol. Have fun!