IconMagic

Thanks to a good-looking interface and a strong toolset, this program muscles its way to nearly the top of the icon-design heap. We really like IconMagic's attractive, colorful design, which features well-organized buttons for some of the app's more useful editing tools. The extensive feature set also impresses, with a wide range of color palettes, layers, drawing instruments, gradients, and shadows. You won't find sample icons to guide you, but the detailed tutorial is a big help. A preview function lets you see what your final image will look like, and you can even replace your PC's icons with ones of your own design from directly within the program. Only users who need an absolutely professional icon-design tool should skip this one.