Okay so I was redoing my portfolio site last month, right? Wanted to make it look classy but not boring. Started messing around with free icons—you know, those flat blue ones everyone uses. Looked like hospital signage. Total snoozefest.
Tried neon colors next. Hurt my eyes after 15 minutes. Felt cheap too, like a discount store sign. Almost gave up until my designer buddy yelled at me: "Stop clowning around—try gold and ivory icons!"
Grabbed a free sample pack first. Took 5 minutes tops—just dragged the SVG files into Figma. BAM. Suddenly my contact button stopped looking like a prison doorbell. Actually made people wanna click it.
Here's why these things slap:
- Looks boujee without screaming rich. That faint ivory glow? Classy AF. Like good wallpaper—doesn’t grab your throat.
- Survives ANY background. Tested it on my black footer and mint green header. Didn’t vanish like white icons. Didn’t clash like red ones.
- People stare longer. Had my aunt visit—she usually texts during Zoom calls. Actually asked about my newsletter icon? Wild.
Best spots I used ‘em:
- Navigation menu—showed up like jewelry against dark mode
- Download buttons—made that PDF look important instead of sketchy
- Social links—my trashy Instagram feed suddenly looked curated
Made one rookie mistake though—dumped a gold icon next to orange text. Looked like fake tan stains. Lesson: treat gold like garlic. Little goes far.
Seriously, took my site from "nice try" to "holy crap you did this yourself?" Won’t touch another crayon-color icon again. Your eyes literally relax looking at these things. Gold+ivory gang forever.
