Search icon

When to use it

The magnifying glass is so established that inventing an alternative costs you comprehension. Pair it with a visible input on desktop; icon-only search is acceptable in compact navigation but should expand on tap. Angle differs by voice — Lucide and Feather tilt the handle to the bottom-right, Heroicons draws a rounder lens with a stubbier handle.

Reach for the magnifying glass to find content the user doesn't have on screen yet — a search field, a 'find' action, a filterable list's query box. It is so established that inventing an alternative costs comprehension, so use it as-is. Keep it clear of zoom, which magnifies the current view: search retrieves something new, zoom enlarges what's already there.

• Reaching for Zoom in? Reach for the lens-with-plus when the action magnifies the current view rather than finding content.
• Reaching for Filter? Reach for the funnel when the control narrows an existing list by criteria rather than searching across it.