Designer dissects the four cliché icons every AI startup site uses: sparkles, rocket, shield, bolt
michalmalewicz · x · 2026-11-06
Designer Michal Malewicz calls out the four icons nearly every AI startup site uses unironically: sparkles, rocket, shield, and bolt — all Lucide, all pastel purple, all meaning nothing specific. His translations: sparkles = "we added AI and don't know what it does"; rocket = "generic startup out of ideas"; shield = "we needed a fourth card"; bolt = "everyone says fast, so let's add it too." His de-slop test: can anyone guess the feature from the icon alone? Would the card be worse without it? Is it your version or the generic one? If you answer no to more than one, remove the icon and fix the copy instead.
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