App icons

[hsiteven]

Hello people!!!
I'm going to develop a new app for neighbors community and local business so in the app, the users will find some categories of services they can choose and inside every category the related services.
Now I'm thinking about the icons I want to make, and I was thinking to add a "hand" to every icon. I'll explain myself better with an example. Let's say I'm looking for someone to help me out with "furniture assembling": the options for the icon are 1) a simple screwdriver or 2) a hand holding the screwdriver, cause I thought the hand might better represent the help a person is giving.
Now, I got some concerns about this idea:
1. will the hand be too repetitive as an element?
2. will the icon be more scalable and understandable without adding the hand?
Thank you in advance for your honest opinions

 

[Levi]

Doesn't it depend on the scope of the app.

If it's basically supplying tradespeople to a particular job then you might be able to go 'furniture' for furniture or a 'car' for a mechanic type of idea.

If it's covering a lot more areas then you'll likely need to be a bit more specific.

 

[lostminds]

My answers to your questions would be:
- A hand (or other reoccurring feature) could be good to distinguish a set/family of similar icons. Like all icons for services in your case. This is mostly useful if you will also have other icons in the app that are not for services. If all icons are for different services in the context and the user knows this, I don't think a hand would add much.
- Any added complexity/elements in an icon usually means you'll need to have it be bigger in an interface. If you need to show the icons in very small sizes in lists or headings you might want to go with something simpler and look at things like color or backgrounds to distinguish different "families" of icons.