Design Notes:

The Open Share icon conveys the act of sharing by visually representing one hand passing an object to another hand, as in "pass it on" or "sharing". The icon also represents an "eye", as in "look at this".

Complete the Open Icon Set:

License:

We have made these icons freely available for use by others under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Usage Guidelines:

This website contains suggested guidelines for use of the icons, and is published and maintained by us as a service to -

• the community of individuals and organizations wishing to use the Open Share Icon in connection with their own products and services and
• members of the general public who use those products and services and rely on the standard meaning of the Open Share Icon as indicating shareable content, and the act of sharing.

The guidelines and FAQs for the Open Share Icon are derived in content and spirt from the ones established by the Mozilla Foundation for the standard orange RSS Feed Icons. A big big thank you to Mozilla.

The icon is freely available for use in connection with content sharing, in all its forms. Shareable content may include blog posts, articles, photos, videos, etc.

There are no restrictions on the size, color, opacity, or other such parameters. It's your site, your content. We do ask that you consider that in the interests of standardization, the use of the unmodified icon is generally preferable, however, we understand that there may be valid reasons why this may not always be applicable.

The spirit of these guidelines is to encourage adoption of the Open Share Icon by both individuals and corporate entities who may use it freely (on web pages, in products or services) for the purposes for which it is intended. It is not intended, for example, to be used as part of a trademark, service mark, or logo. If you are developing or have developed a sharing related application, product or service, you may make use of the Open Share Icon to help foster standardization and recognition.

Note also that these guidelines are not intended to discourage other uses of the Open Share Icon that conform to the overall spirit of these guidelines. However in the interests of providing a consistent experience for users we suggest that providers of sharing services and related services make minimum use of alternative representations of the Open Share Icon.

Note that the above guidelines regarding size and color are not intended to restrict the ways in which the icon might be represented by assistive technologies designed for use by people with impaired vision. (Such technologies include software to magnify the contents of the screen and/or change screen colors, contrast, and brightness; alternative stylesheets for web sites; and the like.)

I don’t like green; can I use the icon in a different color?

We don't discourage alternative uses and representations of the icon that conform to the overall spirit of the guidelines, including using a different color for the icon in cases where you think it's appropriate (e.g., to match the overall color scheme for your web site).

However at the same time we believe that the color of the icon is an important visual cue for people, and that arbitrarily changing the color could disrupt that cue and could confuse users. (Just as, for example, changing the standard colors used for road signs could confuse drivers.) We therefore recommend not changing the color of the icon when it's used in the context of sharing and its related products and services.

As seen in:

View more sites | Using the Open Share Icon? let the community know!

Why do we need another icon?

The design of the Open Share Icon is inspired by Alex King's original Share Icon - . The original Share Icon, designed with community input, driven and popularized by Alex King was later sold to ShareThis/Nextumi, Inc and is now wholly owned, trademarked and strongly linked to the new owners.

Since being acquired, that icon has been subject to take down notices by ShareThis/Nextumi, Inc, and its original intended usage restricted in practice. We, as a community, felt these actions by ShareThis/Nextumi, Inc did not reflect the original spirit with which the original share icon was created, and hence felt the need for a new, truly open, free and more flexible community-driven alternative. Use either icon, but make an informed choice.

What’s the role of the wider community in all of this?

In general we don't think that use of the icon should be regulated using trademark law and related mechanisms. Instead we propose relying on community oversight and enforcement of the guidelines using non-legal means.

Community members are also invited to assist in determining the proper interpretation of the guidelines in particular situations, and evolving the guidelines and the icon itself to accomodate future uses not yet envisioned.

Join the conversation by joining our Google Group community!

Subscribe to The Open Share Icon Project
Email:

Are you required to follow the proposed usage guidelines?

We hope that users of the icon will honor the guidelines in the spirit in which they were intended.

Why publish any usage guidelines at all?

We felt it was important that the icon "mean something" to people, particularly to end users who are just getting acquainted with the concept of sharing web content and might see the icon as a relatively reliable guide by which to discover content that is shareable, and the act of sharing in general. Taking a totally laissez faire approach might cause those users' expectations to be completely violated.

How can I report possible violations of the proposed usage guidelines?

That's really up to you. If you think someone's misusing the icon you can blog about it, and/or post a note in an appropriate online forum (including our Google Group!).

Design Credit:

The Open Share Icon is a derivative of the original design by Frank Dobbelaere, David Hall, Bruce McKenzie, & Jay Meattle, with input from David Cancel. It was designed based on the larger input of the community.