Simplifying a complex crypto logo into an icon

Few crypto brand logos were drawn with a 20 px slot in mind. What you get from a project is often a lockup with a symbol and a wordmark, a gradient with several stops, a hairline ring, maybe a glossy 3D coin render. Turning that into an icon is mostly subtraction, done in a specific order so you keep exactly the parts people recognize.

The seven steps below work the same for a token, a chain, a wallet or an exchange. The last section covers the part that's easy to forget: the logo isn't yours, so some changes are off the table no matter how much they'd help.

Step 1: Start from the official files

Before simplifying anything, check whether the project has already done it. Many projects publish a symbol-only version, an app icon, a favicon or a one-color version in their press kit or brand guidelines. The avatar they use on their own social accounts is another strong hint at the compact form they've approved. Press kits and brand guidelines covers where to look.

Work from vector source: SVG, AI, EPS or PDF. Tracing a screenshot or a small PNG introduces wobbly curves and slightly wrong proportions, and those errors are hard to see until the icon sits next to the real logo. If only raster files exist, use the largest one and trace carefully, or ask the project for vectors.

If an official symbol or app icon exists, the next three steps may already be done for you.

Step 2: Separate the symbol from the wordmark

An icon almost never includes the name. The label next to it does that job, and the letters would be unreadable at icon size anyway. Remove the wordmark and keep the symbol, along with whatever spacing logic the symbol had on its own.

Some brands are wordmark-only. In that case the safest source is the project's own app icon or avatar, which is often a monogram they designed. Building your own monogram from their wordmark is creating new artwork in their name; if you must, treat it as a clearly temporary placeholder and replace it when an official version appears.

Step 3: Remove effects

Work from the outside in: drop shadows, glows, bevels, reflections and 3D lighting. These rarely carry identity, and they turn to mud at small sizes.

Gradients need more thought. If the gradient is the identity, as with Solana's well-known purple-to-green mark, keep it and check that it still reads at 24 px. If the gradient is just shading on a coin, flatten it. For the flat color, use the one the brand's guidelines specify for single-color or flat use if they give one; otherwise use the color that dominates the gradient at normal viewing size.

A typical before and after. Before, a three-stop gradient and a drop shadow filter:

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24">
  <defs>
    <linearGradient id="coin" x1="0" y1="0" x2="1" y2="1">
      <stop offset="0" stop-color="#8a7bff"/>
      <stop offset="0.5" stop-color="#5a46d6"/>
      <stop offset="1" stop-color="#3a2a9e"/>
    </linearGradient>
    <filter id="shadow">
      <feDropShadow dx="0" dy="0.5" stdDeviation="0.5" flood-opacity="0.4"/>
    </filter>
  </defs>
  <circle cx="12" cy="12" r="9" fill="url(#coin)" filter="url(#shadow)"/>
</svg>

After, one flat fill:

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24">
  <circle cx="12" cy="12" r="9" fill="#5a46d6"/>
</svg>

Besides reading better, the flat version has no id attributes, so it can't collide with other inline SVGs on the same page, and it's a fraction of the size.

Step 4: Thicken, merge and open up

Now deal with fine detail inside the symbol.

• Hairlines. Lines thinner than about 1.5 units on a 24-unit canvas won't survive 16 px. Either thicken them or drop them if they're secondary.
• Parallel lines. Two thin lines close together blur into one gray band. Merge them into one line or keep one.
• Thin rims. A fine ring around a coin turns into a soft gray outline. Remove it or make it substantial enough to read as part of the coin.
• Small gaps. Widen gaps that separate important parts, so the parts don't merge at small sizes.
• Loose fragments. Tiny dots, sparkles and orbiting shapes become stray pixels. Remove them.

If the mark is built from strokes, convert them to filled outlines once the weights are set. Illustrator has Outline Stroke under Object, Path, and Figma has an Outline stroke command. Filled outlines behave predictably in every renderer and are easier to combine with boolean operations.

Step 5: Fit it to the canvas

Place the symbol on your icon canvas, typically 24 by 24, and scale it to the keyline that matches its dominant shape: circle, square, tall or wide rectangle. Lock the aspect ratio. Center it, then check it optically, since marks with uneven mass often need a small nudge. Keylines explained has a template to work against.

Step 6: Compare against the original

Set the original logo at a large size next to your icon at 16, 24 and 48 px. Ask two questions. Would someone who knows the brand recognize it instantly? And does it still look like their mark, or like your interpretation of it?

Then overlay your icon on the original symbol at the same scale with reduced opacity. The outer shape and the main features should line up. If you see differences beyond the details you deliberately removed, such as a changed curve, an adjusted angle or a shifted proportion, you've drifted into redrawing.

Showing the icon to someone without the label and asking them to name it is a quick, honest test.

Step 7: Keep a record

Note the source file, where it came from, the date, and what you removed or changed. Projects rebrand, tweak their marks and retire old versions. When that happens, a short record tells you which icons to redo and how.

What you may change, and what to leave alone

This section is general information, not legal advice. Logos are trademarks, and what's acceptable depends on the brand's own guidelines, how you use the mark and where you are.

The principle that holds up best: removing is easier to defend than changing. An icon that's the brand's own symbol, scaled and placed on a canvas with its effects removed, is still clearly their mark. An icon with altered shapes or colors is something else.

Many brand guidelines include a page of things not to do with the logo, and the list usually looks a lot like the bottom half of this table. Read it before you start. When something you need isn't covered, contact the project; many have an address for brand questions. Can you modify a brand's logo? and crypto logos and trademarks go further into the legal background.