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I would like to know if there is a universal approved Icon to represent all Icons.

I have a folder that contains all of my custom designed icons. I would like to design and create a custom Icon, to represent all Icons, and use it to replace the standard windows Folder icon.

i.e. An ICON to represent all icons.

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    A little grid 3x3 containing little images fading out on the lower edge/right edge to show there are more images there. Windows uses an actual folder containing little preview images of the content.
    – Barfieldmv
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 10:52
  • what do yo mean by "universal approved"?
    – Bart Gijssens
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 11:00
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    Doesn't Windows automatically adapt the folder icon into an icon of a folder containing the icons under that directory?
    – Bart Gijssens
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 12:05
  • A galaxy. With all the stars as little icons.
    – Zelda
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 14:15

3 Answers 3

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The answer is that there is no universal icon.

But, contrary to colmcq's answer - I think you have to think inside the box :-)

I found these at IconFinder and IconArchive

enter image description here enter image description here

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    Isn't that the universal icon for "stuff I can't find a place for"?
    – JohnGB ♦
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 11:39
  • Hah, those are a pretty good solution.
    – Zelda
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 13:28
  • I preferred mine <sad face>
    – colmcq
    Commented Nov 17, 2011 at 1:33
  • Great answer! This definitely helped me and represents what I would define as icons
    – BoneStarr
    Commented Sep 24, 2020 at 1:54
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No, there isn't any universally approved icon to represent all icons.

So just go ahead and design whatever makes sense to you, seeing as you plan to use it for personal use. It would be nice if you post your design once done though.

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I think you have to think outside the box here. Can you think of any other situations where there has been one x to represent all y? Of course you can! In Lord Of The Rings there was 'One Ring To Rule Them All'; by adopting this simple metaphor, an icon of a ring could easily communicate to most users - who would 'get' the Lord Of The Rings reference- that This Icon represents All Icons. You could even have the alt description in Elfish for that added professional finish.

Think outside the box!

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  • @colmcq: Amin weera
    – JohnGB ♦
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 11:29
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    I would think, "There's jewelry here?" - Lord of the Rings is rarely at the top of most people's minds...
    – Izkata
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 15:02
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    everyone knows that a ring is a ref to lord of the rings. Maybe to make it even more obvious you could inscribe the ring with the language of the ancients; then there would be no doubt at all.
    – colmcq
    Commented Nov 16, 2011 at 9:58

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