glyphs.md

Glyphs — which name to reach for

A curated index into the vendored glyph set: names grouped by what the slide is about, each with the moment to use it. Read it when you know what a mark should mean and not what it is called.

It is a shortlist, not the vocabulary. 4,001 Material Symbols ship, so a name this page never mentions very probably resolves — guess the upstream one, and a miss names the closest real glyphs.

Names are written exactly as you type them into icon:. Bold entries are curated aliases — a name deckwright maps onto a glyph the set calls something else. Everything else is the glyph's own name, and the hyphenated spelling of an underscored one works too, so rocket-launch and rocket_launch reach the same file. Which glyph each curated name lands on is docs/icons.md.

Placing an icon: is docs/components.md; how the lookup resolves a name is docs/icons.md.

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Have the word already? deckwright glyphs find <substring> searches all 4,001 names and the aliases, so you need this page only when you are looking for the word itself.

Table of Contents

• Plain shapes and marks
• Direction and momentum
• Money
• Charts, when the chart itself is not on the slide
• People
• Product and engineering
• AI
• Process and status
• Risk, security, compliance
• Time
• Talking to people
• Places and industry
• Documents
• Interface verbs
• Sustainability and hardware

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Plain shapes and marks

Geometry rather than meaning — a bullet, a rule's end, a legend swatch.

Five of these are not glyphs at all. circle, square, triangle, diamond and ring are drawn as DrawingML presets, because for these the geometry is the meaning and an icon set only ever draws its idea of one: Material's square is round-cornered, and a scan of all 4,001 found no rhombus anywhere. A preset is exact at any size and arrives as a shape a reader can grab a handle on. A directory you configure still wins — ship your own circle.svg and you get it. See icons.md.

Name	Reach for it when…
plus / minus	adding or removing, or a plain ±
circle / square	a filled bullet the theme colours
ring	the same bullet, hollow
triangle	a solid up-pointing wedge
diamond	a rhombus — a node, a decision, a plain marker
star	a rating, a favourite, a highlight
heart	affection, a saved item, satisfaction
grid	a set of equal things, or a layout
check / close	a tick and a cross

Direction and momentum

Name	Reach for it when…
arrow-up / arrow-down	a plain directional arrow, no trend implied
arrow-left / arrow-right	back and forward, or a step in a sequence
rocket_launch	something is shipping, launching, or going live
deploy	a release is going out — the same mark, when "deploy" is the word
momentum	the same mark again, for a slide about acceleration
growth	a number is going up and that is the point
decline	a number is going down — cost, churn, latency
steady	the line is flat and flat is the finding
insights	the slide is the moment the pattern became visible
forecast	the same mark, pointed forward rather than back
route	there is a path from here to there with turns in it
roadmap	same, when the audience calls it a roadmap
milestone	marking the point a phase is declared done
explore	the work is open-ended and the direction is the question
travel_explore	scanning a wide landscape before choosing
research	the same mark, for investigation rather than search
timeline	the argument is chronological
history	referring back to what the system already did
update	something is being refreshed rather than replaced

Money

Name	Reach for it when…
payments	money moving, generically
revenue	the number on the slide is money coming in
cost	the number is money going out
budget	discussing an allocation rather than a flow
bank	an institution, a treasury, a reserve
invoice	billing, statements, itemised charges
savings	money set aside, or a saving the work created
paid	a thing is settled, no longer outstanding
credit_card	payment method is the subject
currency_exchange	conversion, FX, or a rate
pricing	the pricing model or a price change
receipt_long	a long itemised record — an audit trail of spend

Charts, when the chart itself is not on the slide

Name	Reach for it when…
chart-bar	quantities compared across categories
chart-line	a value over time
chart-pie	shares of one total
chart-area	a filled trend over time
chart-scatter	correlation, spread, per-item points
chart-bubble	three dimensions, the third being size
chart-donut	composition where the middle can hold a number
chart-stacked	parts of a whole across categories
chart-waterfall	the bridge from one total to another
chart-candlestick	ranges and highs/lows over time
chart-gauge	one number against a target
metric	pointing at a measurement, not a chart
ranking	an ordered list where position is the message
analytics	the practice of measuring, not one measurement
table_chart	the data is tabular and that matters
spreadsheet	the source really is a spreadsheet

People

Name	Reach for it when…
user	one person, generically
users	two or more, generically
team	a group acting as one unit
meeting	the same group, in a room
audience	the people being reached, not the people working
diversity_3	composition of a group is the subject
customer	the person on the other side of the product
support_agent	service, help desk, human-in-the-loop
hire	adding a person — headcount, onboarding
org-chart	reporting lines and structure
role	a named responsibility rather than a person
profile	an individual account or identity
handshake	agreement reached, partnership, a deal
school	training as an institution
learning	the same mark, for the act of learning
workspace_premium	a standard met, a certification
award	the same mark, when the word is "award"
emoji_events	a win worth celebrating

Product and engineering

Name	Reach for it when…
bug	a defect, found or fixed
test	verification, experiments, the lab
construction	work in progress, deliberately unfinished
pipeline	staged automated processing
automation	a manual step that stopped being manual
terminal	the interface is a command line
console	the same mark, when the word is "console"
code	source, generically
data_object	a payload, a schema, a JSON shape
payload	same, when "payload" is the word on the slide
api	a contract between two systems
integration	wiring two systems together
model	a deployed artefact rather than a running service
server	infrastructure that answers requests
network	the wiring between machines rather than one of them
storage	data at rest
database	a database specifically
memory	RAM, caching, or the working set
cloud_sync	keeping two places in agreement
extension	a plug-in or optional capability
release	a version reaching users
version	which version is being discussed
engineering	the discipline, not a specific task
architecture	structural design decisions

AI

Name	Reach for it when…
ai	the generic "this is the AI part" mark
agent	software acting on its own initiative
brain	reasoning, cognition, a mental model
neurology	the network itself, more literal than brain
token	cost or throughput measured in tokens
dataset	the training or evaluation corpus
model_training	the fitting step specifically
embedding	vectors, similarity, the latent space
prompt	the instruction given to a model
manage_search	retrieval with filters or structure
query	asking the system a question
psychology_alt	how a model behaves rather than how it works

Process and status

Name	Reach for it when…
success	a step completed cleanly
failure	a step did not
blocker	progress is stopped by something external
pending	waiting, not stuck
task_alt	one item, done
done	when "done" is the word being used
todo	a list of things not yet started
checklist	a procedure with steps to tick
decision	the path forks here
phase	one segment of a longer sequence
backlog	queued work with no date on it
priority	this one first
error	something is wrong right now
crisis_alert	wrong and urgent
alert	a notification that needs a human
bell	a plain bell — an alert with no urgency attached
notifications	the notification mechanism itself
approve / reject	a gate with a person behind it
question	an open question on the slide

Risk, security, compliance

Name	Reach for it when…
compliance	meeting an external standard
audit	checking the record after the fact
governance	the rules about who may do what
legal	contracts, regulation, counsel
permission	access control and who holds it
encryption	data protected in transit or at rest
shield_lock	a protected boundary
shield_person	protecting an individual's data
fingerprint	identity proven by something inherent
vpn_key	a credential or secret
lock_open	access deliberately granted
password	the credential is the subject
security_update_good	patched, current, no longer exposed
balance	a trade-off being weighed
gavel	a ruling, a decision with authority

Time

Name	Reach for it when…
deadline	a date with consequences
duration	how long something takes
clock	time, generically
schedule	the same mark, for a recurring or planned time
calendar	a date, generically
calendar_month	a month-scale view
event	one thing at one time
hourglass_top	elapsed time is the cost

Talking to people

Name	Reach for it when…
chat	a conversation with several people in it
message	a single message
email	email specifically (draws the built-in envelope)
phone	a call
video	a video call or recording
announcement	broadcasting outward
podcasts	audio content
rss_feed	a subscribable stream
share	passing something on
link	a reference to somewhere else
translate	languages, localisation
record_voice_over	speech as input

Places and industry

Name	Reach for it when…
office	a company location
store	retail, a storefront, point of sale
factory	manufacturing or heavy process
local_shipping	physical delivery
inventory_2	stock, a warehouse, things counted
pin	a specific place on a map
location_on	the same mark, under the set's own name
map	geography is the frame
globe	the planet as a wireframe
world	global scope, drawn with continents

Documents

Name	Reach for it when…
document	a file, as an object
description	a document with words in it
article	long-form writing
log	the same mark, for a running record
report	a produced summary
summarize	the act of condensing
draft	not finished, deliberately
edit_note	a document being changed
note_add	capturing something new
folder_open	contents rather than the container
topic	a category of documents

Interface verbs

Name	Reach for it when…
eye	shown, watched, monitored
visibility / visibility_off	shown or hidden
gear	settings, as an object
filter_alt	narrowing a set
sort	ordering a set
swap_horiz	exchanging two things
compare_arrows	putting two things side by side
open_in_new	leaving for somewhere else
export	data leaving the system
import	data arriving in it
config	settings and knobs
settings_suggest	settings chosen for you
toggle_on / toggle	a binary switch
touch_app	a user acting directly
ads_click	conversion, the click that counted
thumb_up / thumb_down	feedback, sentiment

Sustainability and hardware

Name	Reach for it when…
eco	environmental impact
energy_savings_leaf	efficiency framed as saving
recycling	a loop, reuse
solar_power	renewable generation
smartphone / laptop_mac / devices	the device is the subject
qr_code_2	a scannable handoff to a phone