When you enter into the world of graphic design on a professional
level, you are expected to know certain things that the layman does not.

For example, you should be aware that a font and a typeface are two
different things. You should know the proper way to space lettering on a
poster. You should have a good grasp of image placement for the most
effective genre of poster…and that is only the beginning.

The subtleties in this line of work as extreme, because you are
touching on so many different sources. Graphic design is artistic, creative,
technical, technological and precise. Which is why when someone gets
confused by something like the difference between logos and icons, it is
understandable.

The two are very similar, so it can be difficult to
ascertain the little deviations that make each unique.

But they are not the same.
We will start by taking a look at what each are:
What Is An Icon?




Unlike other representative items that are meant to be more broad, an
icon is a way of showing off an abstract or direct concept, operation or
idea. They are a way of creating an immediate, visual understanding
between what the creator means and the viewer sees. In the end, they are
there to help simplify something that might otherwise be difficult to
get. Check out 17Beautiful Social media Icon sets for Bloggers

What Is A Logo?




On the other hand, a logo is a way of conveying a relation
to a business or event. It uses creative typeface and
imagery to establish a link between the original idea and what you are
seeing. You can think of it as an ideogram, or a simplified poster or
ad. A logo is meant to immediately advertise the purpose of whatever it
is representing. Check out 30Creative Examples of Logo Design ideas

Technical Differences


The real difference between an icon and
a logo comes in the technical aspects of the overall makeup. The tools
and processes used to create both differ greatly. If there is ever any
doubt about which you are looking at, you should be able to look at a
few things to clear the confusion:

• While logos are completely
  scalable, icons are not. The first is made to be able to adapt to
  different dimensions. You should be able to take the same first design
  and change the size, save it and move on to the next size. An icon is
  made in either a 16×16 pixel or 256×256 pixel design. Neither of those will keep their resolution if you resize them. Instead, you would have to actually remake different versions in different dimensions to keep them crisp and defined.
  
• An icon is made in a perfect square and
  much remain in those limits, while a logo has no shape boundaries. Icons are meant to fit into their little box, and they can not go outside of those boundaries. That is because they are made with technical restrictions and rules in mind. Logos don’t really have rules. If you can make it, you can use it.
  

At the end of the day, it isn’t
that difficult to understand the difference between logos and icons.
Once you know the general rules you should be able to easily pick them
out of a crowd.