Spookifying Reddit: A Halloween Icon Pack Redesign

How I reimagined Reddit’s core icons to embrace the spooky season.

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CHALLENGE OVERVIEW

As part of the Uxcel Community Design Contest, the challenge was to redesign the icons of a popular app with a festive, Halloween-inspired twist. The goal was to create a cohesive icon pack that not only captured the spooky season’s playful spirit but also maintained usability and the app's brand consistency.

For this project, I chose Reddit—a platform known for its community-driven interactions and quirky, approachable vibe.

As part of the Uxcel Community Design Contest, the challenge was to redesign the icons of a popular app with a festive, Halloween-inspired twist. The goal was to create a cohesive icon pack that not only captured the spooky season’s playful spirit but also maintained usability and the app's brand consistency.

For this project, I chose Reddit—a platform known for its community-driven interactions and quirky, approachable vibe.

As part of the Uxcel Community Design Contest, the challenge was to redesign the icons of a popular app with a festive, Halloween-inspired twist. The goal was to create a cohesive icon pack that not only captured the spooky season’s playful spirit but also maintained usability and the app's brand consistency.

For this project, I chose Reddit—a platform known for its community-driven interactions and quirky, approachable vibe.

GOALS

Embrace the Halloween Spirit:

Infuse Reddit’s familiar icons with festive, spooky elements that feel playful and engaging.

Preserve Usability:

Ensure all redesigned icons are intuitive, recognisable, and functional across various devices and contexts.

Maintain Brand Identity:

Stay true to Reddit’s iconic tone, colour palette, and design principles while introducing a seasonal twist.

Optimise for Light & Dark Modes:

Design icons that work seamlessly in both modes, enhancing readability and ensuring a cohesive user experience.

THE SOLUTION

Create an intuitive, user-centered website for XYZ Therapy that simplifies the process of finding information, builds trust, and streamlines appointment booking.

MY ROLE

As the UX/UI designer, I conducted in-depth research, developed user personas, and led the design process to deliver a solution aligned with the needs of XYZ Therapy’s audience.

PROCESS

1. Research: Studying Reddit’s Essence

I started by analysing Reddit’s tone and design principles.

Known for its friendly and quirky vibe, Reddit offered the perfect canvas for a fun, seasonal twist. I studied its existing icons for simplicity, consistency, and usability, ensuring the redesign would integrate seamlessly.

I started by analysing Reddit’s tone and design principles.

Known for its friendly and quirky vibe, Reddit offered the perfect canvas for a fun, seasonal twist. I studied its existing icons for simplicity, consistency, and usability, ensuring the redesign would integrate seamlessly.

I started by analysing Reddit’s tone and design principles.

Known for its friendly and quirky vibe, Reddit offered the perfect canvas for a fun, seasonal twist. I studied its existing icons for simplicity, consistency, and usability, ensuring the redesign would integrate seamlessly.

2. Ideation: Sketching a Spooky Vision

My brainstorming began with classic Halloween motifs—jack-o’-lanterns, ghosts, bats, and haunted houses. Each idea was sketched to explore how these elements could replace Reddit’s icons without losing functionality.

Home → Haunted House: A welcoming yet eerie vibe for the app’s central hub.

Upvote → Jack-o’-Lantern: A cheerful pumpkin grin that adds a festive touch to voting.

Comments → Ghost Icon: A playful spirit to haunt the threads.

Share → Bat: A sleek, spooky nod to sharing posts far and wide.These sketches became the foundation for my final designs.

My brainstorming began with classic Halloween motifs—jack-o’-lanterns, ghosts, bats, and haunted houses. Each idea was sketched to explore how these elements could replace Reddit’s icons without losing functionality.

Home → Haunted House: A welcoming yet eerie vibe for the app’s central hub.

Upvote → Jack-o’-Lantern: A cheerful pumpkin grin that adds a festive touch to voting.

Comments → Ghost Icon: A playful spirit to haunt the threads.

Share → Bat: A sleek, spooky nod to sharing posts far and wide.These sketches became the foundation for my final designs.

My brainstorming began with classic Halloween motifs—jack-o’-lanterns, ghosts, bats, and haunted houses. Each idea was sketched to explore how these elements could replace Reddit’s icons without losing functionality.

Home → Haunted House: A welcoming yet eerie vibe for the app’s central hub.

Upvote → Jack-o’-Lantern: A cheerful pumpkin grin that adds a festive touch to voting.

Comments → Ghost Icon: A playful spirit to haunt the threads.

Share → Bat: A sleek, spooky nod to sharing posts far and wide.These sketches became the foundation for my final designs.

Sketching Ideas

3. Establishing Structure: Bringing Concepts to Life

With the ideas finalised, I transitioned to digital design, focusing on precision and consistency.

Grid Construction: Each icon was built on a 24x24 pixel grid to ensure alignment and scalability across devices and themes.

Stroke Weight: I used a 1px stroke weight for light mode, reducing it to 0.5px in dark mode for better balance and clarity.

Angles: Smooth 0.2-degree curves kept the designs friendly and aligned with Reddit’s approachable tone.

With the ideas finalised, I transitioned to digital design, focusing on precision and consistency.

Grid Construction: Each icon was built on a 24x24 pixel grid to ensure alignment and scalability across devices and themes.

Stroke Weight: I used a 1px stroke weight for light mode, reducing it to 0.5px in dark mode for better balance and clarity.

Angles: Smooth 0.2-degree curves kept the designs friendly and aligned with Reddit’s approachable tone.

With the ideas finalised, I transitioned to digital design, focusing on precision and consistency.

Grid Construction: Each icon was built on a 24x24 pixel grid to ensure alignment and scalability across devices and themes.

Stroke Weight: I used a 1px stroke weight for light mode, reducing it to 0.5px in dark mode for better balance and clarity.

Angles: Smooth 0.2-degree curves kept the designs friendly and aligned with Reddit’s approachable tone.

Design Process

4. Colour Palette: Staying on Brand, Adding Festive Flair

To maintain brand consistency, I used Reddit’s core colours and introduced subtle Halloween accents:

Orange: `#FF4500` – Reddit’s signature colour.

White: `#FFFFFF` – Clean and sharp.

Black: `#000000` – A strong base for dark mode.

Deep Purple: `#656869` – A spooky addition for Halloween vibes.

To maintain brand consistency, I used Reddit’s core colours and introduced subtle Halloween accents:

Orange: `#FF4500` – Reddit’s signature colour.

White: `#FFFFFF` – Clean and sharp.

Black: `#000000` – A strong base for dark mode.

Deep Purple: `#656869` – A spooky addition for Halloween vibes.

To maintain brand consistency, I used Reddit’s core colours and introduced subtle Halloween accents:

Orange: `#FF4500` – Reddit’s signature colour.

White: `#FFFFFF` – Clean and sharp.

Black: `#000000` – A strong base for dark mode.

Deep Purple: `#656869` – A spooky addition for Halloween vibes.

Colour Palette

5. Dark Mode Adjustments: Optimised for Shadows

Designing for dark mode meant enhancing contrast and ensuring clarity.

Stroke Weight: Reduced to 0.5px to prevent filled areas from appearing too heavy.

Contrast Enhancements: Brighter oranges and purples ensured icons popped against darker backgrounds.These adjustments kept the icons crisp, festive, and functional, no matter the mode.

Designing for dark mode meant enhancing contrast and ensuring clarity.

Stroke Weight: Reduced to 0.5px to prevent filled areas from appearing too heavy.

Contrast Enhancements: Brighter oranges and purples ensured icons popped against darker backgrounds.These adjustments kept the icons crisp, festive, and functional, no matter the mode.

Designing for dark mode meant enhancing contrast and ensuring clarity.

Stroke Weight: Reduced to 0.5px to prevent filled areas from appearing too heavy.

Contrast Enhancements: Brighter oranges and purples ensured icons popped against darker backgrounds.These adjustments kept the icons crisp, festive, and functional, no matter the mode.

Navigation Bar - Old vs New

Old
The OG nav bar was clean, simple, and reliable—your go-to squad for scrolling through Reddit chaos. But it lacked flair, you know? It wasn’t exactly the life of the (Halloween) party.

New
The new nav bar has entered full Halloween mode!
It’s spooky, playful, and brimming with personality. From a Haunted House for Home to ghostly chats and witchy Communities, it’s here to make every tap a festive treat. Even the Create button is rocking Halloween vibes, ready for your ghoulishly good ideas!

Post Interaction Bar - Old vs New

Old
The trusty interaction bar you know and love—solid arrows for upvotes and downvotes, a classic chat bubble for comments, and a clean share icon. Functional? Yes. Festive? Not so much.

New
Say hello to a spook-tacular upgrade! Upvotes and downvotes have been pumpkin-fied into grinning and frowning jack-o’-lanterns (because even pumpkins can take a stand 🎃). Comments now come with a playful ghost, adding a hauntingly fun vibe, and sharing takes flight with a bat that’s ready to soar.

Search Bar - Old vs New

Old
The trusty interaction bar you know and love—solid arrows for upvotes and downvotes, a classic chat bubble for comments, and a clean share icon. Functional? Yes. Festive? Not so much.

Learnings

This project taught me how to balance creativity with usability, especially when designing for seasonal themes while staying true to a brand's identity and voice. I learned:

The importance of a strong grid system to maintain consistency across all icons.
How contrast adjustments can elevate designs for both light and dark modes, ensuring clarity and usability.
The value of iteration to refine playful ideas into functional, user-friendly icons.
How to integrate brand identity and tone, ensuring the redesign felt distinctly "Reddit" while adding a festive, spooky twist.

Above all, this redesign reminded me that even the most functional elements can become a canvas for storytelling—when approached with care and creativity.

Happy haunting, Redditors!

This project taught me how to balance creativity with usability, especially when designing for seasonal themes while staying true to a brand's identity and voice. I learned:

The importance of a strong grid system to maintain consistency across all icons.
How contrast adjustments can elevate designs for both light and dark modes, ensuring clarity and usability.
The value of iteration to refine playful ideas into functional, user-friendly icons.
How to integrate brand identity and tone, ensuring the redesign felt distinctly "Reddit" while adding a festive, spooky twist.

Above all, this redesign reminded me that even the most functional elements can become a canvas for storytelling—when approached with care and creativity.

Happy haunting, Redditors!

This project taught me how to balance creativity with usability, especially when designing for seasonal themes while staying true to a brand's identity and voice. I learned:

The importance of a strong grid system to maintain consistency across all icons.
How contrast adjustments can elevate designs for both light and dark modes, ensuring clarity and usability.
The value of iteration to refine playful ideas into functional, user-friendly icons.
How to integrate brand identity and tone, ensuring the redesign felt distinctly "Reddit" while adding a festive, spooky twist.

Above all, this redesign reminded me that even the most functional elements can become a canvas for storytelling—when approached with care and creativity.

Happy haunting, Redditors!

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Learnings

This project taught me how to balance creativity with usability, especially when designing for seasonal themes while staying true to a brand's identity and voice. I learned:

The importance of a strong grid system to maintain consistency across all icons.

How contrast adjustments can elevate designs for both light and dark modes, ensuring clarity and usability.

The value of iteration to refine playful ideas into functional, user-friendly icons.

How to integrate brand identity and tone, ensuring the redesign felt distinctly "Reddit" while adding a festive, spooky twist.

Above all, this redesign reminded me that even the most functional elements can become a canvas for storytelling—when approached with care and creativity.

Happy haunting, Redditors!

This project taught me how to balance creativity with usability, especially when designing for seasonal themes while staying true to a brand's identity and voice. I learned:

The importance of a strong grid system to maintain consistency across all icons.

How contrast adjustments can elevate designs for both light and dark modes, ensuring clarity and usability.

The value of iteration to refine playful ideas into functional, user-friendly icons.

How to integrate brand identity and tone, ensuring the redesign felt distinctly "Reddit" while adding a festive, spooky twist.

Above all, this redesign reminded me that even the most functional elements can become a canvas for storytelling—when approached with care and creativity.

Happy haunting, Redditors!

This project taught me how to balance creativity with usability, especially when designing for seasonal themes while staying true to a brand's identity and voice. I learned:

The importance of a strong grid system to maintain consistency across all icons.

How contrast adjustments can elevate designs for both light and dark modes, ensuring clarity and usability.

The value of iteration to refine playful ideas into functional, user-friendly icons.

How to integrate brand identity and tone, ensuring the redesign felt distinctly "Reddit" while adding a festive, spooky twist.

Above all, this redesign reminded me that even the most functional elements can become a canvas for storytelling—when approached with care and creativity.

Happy haunting, Redditors!