Minimal vs. Glossy Menu Icons — When to Use Each Style

Glossy Menu Icons: Best Practices, Sizes, and File Formats

Simplicity: Use simple, recognizable shapes; avoid excessive detail that becomes unreadable at small sizes.
Consistency: Match stroke width, corner radius, visual weight, and alignment across all icons.
Hierarchy: Use color, size, or gloss intensity to indicate primary vs. secondary actions.
Contrast & Legibility: Ensure sufficient contrast between icon foreground and background (consider WCAG contrast for interactive states).
Scalability: Design as vector shapes so icons remain sharp at any size; test at smallest and largest intended sizes.
Touch targets: Keep interactive spacing — 44–48 px minimum tappable area on mobile even if the icon graphic is smaller.
States & Feedback: Provide distinct visual states (default, hover/focus, active, disabled) — vary gloss, color, opacity, or subtle shadows.
Platform conventions: Follow platform UI patterns (iOS uses flatter, more minimal icons; Android/Material favors simple glyphs with ripple feedback).
Accessibility: Include accessible labels (aria-label) and do not convey meaning by gloss alone; pair with text when meaning is critical.
Performance: Optimize SVGs (remove metadata, combine paths) and use icon fonts or sprite sheets only when appropriate for performance.

Desktop UI (menu/toolbars): 16×16, 24×24, 32×32, 48×48 px
Touch/mobile icons (visual size): 24×24, 32×32, 40×40, 48×48 px; ensure 44–48 px touch target.
App launcher / home screen: 72×72, 96×96, 128×128 px (or platform-specific sizes).
High-DPI / Retina: provide 2× and 3× assets (e.g., 24×24 -> 48×48 and 72×72) or use vector-based formats.
Favicon / small indicators: 12×12 or 16×16 px (avoid heavy detail).
Export checklist: include at least 16, 24, 32, 48, 72, 96 px plus scalable source.

SVG (recommended): Best for UI icons — scalable, small file size, supports CSS styling, animations, and accessibility attributes. Use as inline SVG for easy styling or as external files/sprite.
PNG: Use when raster assets are required (legacy systems, certain app stores). Export multiple pixel-density variants (1×, 2×, 3×). Use 24-bit PNG with alpha for transparency.
WebP: Lower size than PNG with transparency support; good for web delivery when browser support is fine.
Icon fonts (TTF/WOFF): Useful for scalable monochrome icons with easy color via CSS; avoid for multicolor/glossy effects and be mindful of accessibility and ligature issues.
PDF (vector): Useful for macOS apps and some design handoff workflows.
AI / EPS / SVGZ: Use AI/EPS for archival/vector source in design tools; SVGZ for compressed SVGs when serving many icons.
ICO: Use for favicons on older systems; package multiple sizes in one .ico file (16, 32, 48 px).
APKS / Adaptive icons (Android): Provide foreground (vector) and background layers per Android adaptive icon guidelines.

Export clean SVGs: remove hidden layers, metadata, and unused IDs; combine paths where possible.
Keep icon file sizes small: simplify paths, reduce node counts, and minify SVG.
Use CSS or layered SVG to implement gloss/highlight effects instead of baking them into raster assets when possible.
Batch-export sizes and density variants from design tools (Figma, Sketch, Illustrator) and verify visual parity at each size.
Test icons on actual devices and in different themes (light/dark, high-contrast).

If you want, I can produce a downloadable export checklist or generate SVG templates for a set of glossy menu icons at common sizes.