2025-05-30 17:55:25
At Streamline, we don’t just design icons—we live and work as a fully remote team rooted in Calm Company principles. That means no hustle culture, no glorified burnout, and no expectation to be "always on." Instead, we focus on intentional work, consistent progress, and taking care of our minds and bodies.
We asked our team to share the habits, routines, and tools that keep them healthy, grounded, and motivated while working remotely. Here’s what they had to say.
"One of the biggest problems for sedentary workers is back pain. Ergonomic chairs are good, but you need strong muscles and regular movement. Yoga, walking, and even indoor cycling helped me more than any chair ever could."
—Vincent - Founder & CEO
Many on the team invest in comfortable, ergonomic setups: split keyboards, custom chairs, standing desks. But just as important as the gear is movement. Whether it’s yoga, badminton, running, or a morning walk, physical health is a recurring theme.
"A traditional 9–5 schedule doesn’t work for everyone. I work better in focused sprints with long breaks in between—especially in the afternoon."
—Growth & Marketing
Remote work lets you build a schedule that actually works for your energy. Some teammates use early mornings for deep work. Others reserve afternoons for admin tasks or creative resets. The key is flexibility and learning when you're at your best.
"Taking breaks before I feel exhausted helps me avoid burnout. I treat breaks as transitions between tasks, not rewards for finishing them."
—Fajr - Icons Art Director
Breaks aren’t just downtime. They’re intentional pauses to reset the mind. Cold showers, mini breaks, pomodoro schedules, midday naps, and even journaling after intense tasks are used to clear the mental slate.
"Working from home worked for a few years, but eventually I needed separation. Now, I work from a co-working space. Home is for family, not just work."
—Ricardo - Software Developer
Several teammates have found value in working outside the house part-time. For some it’s a sports club with co-working options or a dedicated desk at a shared space. Others find connection through family, pets, or coffee shop dates with loved ones.
"If I try to design everything perfectly on the first try, I get stuck. But if I break it into layers—structure, shape, detail—I stay in the flow."
—Pascal - Senior Icon Designer
Creative and knowledge work is easier when you break things down. Many team members use layered processes or low-pressure passes to avoid perfectionism and stay productive without stress.
"Ugly drafts, bad ideas, and mistakes are part of the process. You can improve something rough. But you can't improve something that doesn't exist."
—Fajr - Icons Art Director
Creative work is hard. Especially remotely. Several of our team members pointed to journaling, playful hobbies like boardgames, and progress-over-perfection mindsets as ways to stay creatively unblocked and mentally resilient.
"There's a huge connection between gut health and mental health. I take magnesium, vitamin D, and morning probiotics. And no phone in the bedroom—ever."
—Victor - Tech Lead
Supplements, good nutrition, quality sleep, and reducing screen time are common strategies. Whether it’s vitamins before bed or home-cooked meals at lunch, nourishing the body has ripple effects on clarity and calm.
"As a mom of three, work-life balance can feel impossible. But I remind myself: You don’t have to be perfect—just consistent and kind to yourself."
—Devie - Customer Support Specialist
Life outside of work matters just as much. Our teammates use writing, music, prayer, games, pets, and walks with loved ones to reconnect and rebalance. Continuous learning—not for productivity, but for joy.
Streamline is a Calm Company, but our calm isn’t passive. It’s a choice. We don’t ignore stress, instead we design systems and habits to navigate it. Everyone on the team brings something different to the table, but we all believe in the same thing: work should support your life, not consume it.
We hope these tips give you something real to take away, whether you're part of a remote team or just trying to work (and live) a little more intentionally.
✨ Want more?
See how our calm culture shows up in our work. Read the blog to catch up on our latest projects or start with How Streamline Was Born to learn the story behind it all.
🖼️ Enjoy the illustrations in this article?
You can download them for free from our Free Illustrations Bundle pack. Use them in your own remote work content, projects, or just for fun!
2025-05-20 08:21:48
Let's get started 👇
Projects by talented designers featuring Streamline Icons.
"16-20-24 scale ensures optimal legibility and usability of icons for all three platforms (mobile, tablet, and desktop); additional extra-small (12) and extra-large (64) sizes can be used in specific contexts."
If you’ve created standout icon designs or projects featuring Streamline icons, don’t miss your chance to be featured alongside other incredible work from talented designers.
Submit your best icon designs—or creative use cases featuring Streamline icons—and get featured in our monthly showcase.
The icon design community never ceases to amaze us. Each month brings fresh creativity—and we’ll be back with more handpicked projects to spark your inspiration. ✨
Missed a past edition? Explore the Icon Spotlight posts.
2025-04-25 00:54:08
April has been a big month. We’ve updated our Framer plugin to make your design workflow smoother, launched the Streamline API for faster, smarter access, and added hundreds of new icons and elements.
In this update, we’ll walk you through what we’ve shipped, what we’re working on, and what’s just around the corner.
You probably never complained about our old speech bubble icon. It had a sharp, angled tail tucked into the corner. It did its job. Most people didn’t notice anything was wrong. But we did.
So, we moved the tail. It’s now centered, more geometric, and more balanced.
It’s easier to read at small sizes. More universally recognizable. And more harmonious next to other icons in our set.
Because that’s what Streamline is all about.
We believe icons are never done. That’s why we quietly refine them—sometimes pixel by pixel—so you can design with confidence and clarity.
This update isn’t just about speech bubbles. Or about these AI sparkles icons:
It’s about our commitment to a living, breathing, ever-improving library. The kind of resource you can rely on forever.
You can now drag and drop icons, illustrations, emoji, and elements directly into your designs without ever leaving the canvas.
The plugin lets you search, edit colors, and access both free and premium assets—all from inside Framer. We'd love feedback if you have some.
If you’re building a design or collaboration tool, visual limitations quietly lower the quality of user outcomes.
Streamline’s API gives your app instant access to thousands of fresh, searchable visuals: icons, illustrations, and graphic elements. It's an easy upgrade that your users will appreciate—even if they never ask for it.
Most design libraries ship and move on. We do the opposite. We go back in—adding new assets to existing sets to make them richer, more flexible, and more expressive. This month, that means:
A burst of human energy in vector form—perfect for underlines, highlights, or a hand-touched feel. Available in two expressive styles: Beveled (fixed weight) and Variable (adjustable stroke width).
Tech-inspired visual elements for immersive, modern aesthetics. The set features two distinct stylistic directions.
Micro Line and Solid Icons
500+ tiny icons are on their way to being published. Perfect for inline text and small buttons where efficiency in communication is key.
Flex Icons
250+ icons will be added to the elegant Flex icon sets. We'll also cascade them to neutral Core and brutal Sharp.
If you have any suggestions or ideas for us, please send us your feedback. We'd love to hear it!
2025-04-18 22:58:08
We’ve refreshed the AI sparkle icon across all four styles in our Icon System—Core, Flex, Sharp, and Plump. It’s a small tweak with a big impact—especially in tight layouts where clarity matters most.
The new sparkles feature longer, pointier arms that replace the older, stubby shapes. This gives them a sharper, more elegant presence without losing their charm. They now look like actual sparkles—not just little stars with short arms.
From top left to right bottom: improved sparkles shown in icons from Core Line, Flex Duo, Plump Flat, and Sharp Solid sets.
Clearer at small sizes. Thicker details added visual clutter at small sizes. The refined points help the icons stay clean and recognizable, even in compact UI elements.
Improved balance and consistency. This update fixes uneven weights, misalignments, and inconsistent sparkle shapes—resulting in a more polished, unified look across all icons and styles.
Update your icons and bring a little more magic to your UI.
A timeless, minimalist icon set, like Helvetica—neutral yet friendly.
2025-04-18 22:25:32
Ready to get inspired? Let's go! 👇
Projects by talented designers featuring Streamline Icons.
The icon design community never ceases to amaze us. With each month bringing fresh inspiration, we'll be back again with more curated projects to spark your creativity. ✨
Check out our archive of Icon Design Spotlight in case you missed them 👇
Join us inpiring the icon design community in next month's Best Icons. Submit your work to [email protected] or mention us @streamlinehq—the best will get featured!
Put on your learning hat and dig into our growing knowledge base about icon design on the Icon University.
2025-04-10 21:48:54
We’ve updated the design of the speech bubble icons across three sets in our Icon System—Core, Flex, and Sharp. While the change may seem subtle at first glance, it improves both clarity and consistency.
The most noticeable update is the position and shape of the tail. Previously, the speech bubble had a sharp, angled tail pointing from the bottom corner. In the new version, the tail is centered and more geometric, giving the icon a more balanced and familiar shape. The inner symbols—whether it’s text lines, a heart, or other symbols—remain unchanged.
Improved legibility at smaller sizes. The new tail shape holds up better when the icon is scaled down, which is essential for interfaces where space is limited.
More universal visual language. The updated shape reflects the most widely recognized form of a speech bubble, making it more intuitive for users.
Greater visual harmony. The centered tail creates a more symmetrical and stable form, especially when placed alongside other icons in a set.
Whether it’s used to represent a comment, message, or quote, the updated icon is designed to feel more polished and functional across all contexts. Get them now.
