How to Create an Envelope Icon in Affinity Designer

In today’s tutorial, we will create an envelope icon in Affinity Designer. An icon is a graphical representation of a program or file. We use them to help us identify certain programs and files. For example, on a computer, the Recycle Bin is represented by a trash can. So, the trash can is a type of icon. In addition, icons are created in a variety of sizes depending on the type of device or program. Some of the most common icon sizes are 16 x 16, 32 x 32, 48 x 48, 64 x 64, 128 x 128, and 256 x 256 (in pixels). Now, let’s begin the tutorial.

Step 1

First, create a new document. Go to File > New and give the document the following properties.

Step 2

Grab the Rounded Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle. Make sure you center it in the middle of the artboard.

Step 3

Now, make sure the stroke is selected. Then, go to the Stroke panel and set the stroke to 1pt.

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Step 4

Next, grab the Triangle tool from the shapes tool. Then, draw a triangle over the rounded rectangle.

Step 5

Select the triangle. Go to the Toolbar and select Flip Vertically to flip the triangle vertically.

Step 6

Go to the Layers panel. Drag the triangle layer inside of the rounded rectangle layer.

Step 7

Next, select the triangle. Then, press CTRL + J on your keyboard (or right-click on the triangle and select Duplicate) to duplicate the triangle.

Step 8

With the duplicated triangle selected, go to the Toolbar. Select the Flip Vertically to flip the triangle.

Step 9

While holding Shift, drag the duplicated triangle down below the original triangle.

Step 10

With the triangle still selected, go to the Toolbar and select Move to Back.

Step 11

Select the rounded rectangle. Next, go to the Context toolbar and go to the Corner section. Now, set the roundness to 15%.

These are all the steps for drawing an envelope icon in Affinity Designer. To add more details to the icon, continue below.

Step 12

Grab the Ellipse tool and place it in the center of the envelope. Hold both the CTRL key and the Shift key to draw the ellipse. Make sure the ellipse covers the whole envelope. Then, give the ellipse the following fill color.

Step 13

Go to the Toolbar. Select Move to Back to send the ellipse to the back.

Step 14

Double click on the triangle on top and make it this semi-dark shade of green.

Step 15

Double click on the triangle on the bottom and make it this shade of green.

Step 16

Select the rounded rectangle and fill it with the light shade of green.

Step 17

Grab the Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle. Place it over half of the envelope on the right side. Give it a black fill color.

Step 18

With the rectangle still selected. Go to the Layers panel. Go to Opacity and set it to 5%.

Step 19

Go to the Layers panel. Select the rectangle and drag it inside of the rounded rectangle the same way we did the triangles.

Step 20

Grab the Rectangle tool and draw another rectangle. This time place this rectangle inside of the ellipse.

Step 21

Fill the rectangle to black and set the Opacity of the rectangle to 5%.

Step 22

With the rectangle still selected, go to the Toolbar and select Convert to Curves to convert the rectangle to a curve.

Step 23

Go to the Transform panel and rotate the rectangle to 45 degrees.

Step 24

Grab the Node tool from the Tools Panel. Select the top-left node and place it behind the envelope.

Step 25

With the Node tool still active, select the bottom-left node and place it behind the envelope too.

Step 26

Finally, select everything (press CTRL + A). Press CTRL + G to group everything together.

Congratulations! You’ve created an envelope icon in Affinity Designer! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and have learned some new skills for creating icons of your own. For more Affinity Designer tutorials, check out this tutorial on creating a flat design illustration.