Executive Summary
BlazorOcticons is an open-source library that provides GitHub Octicons as native .razor components for Blazor applications. Its value lies in removing friction for Blazor developers who want clean, familiar icons without managing SVGs, wrappers, or third-party icon systems.
The product succeeds through clarity and restraint. It does not attempt to be a design system, icon marketplace, or visual framework. Instead, it does one job extremely well: expose GitHub’s Octicons as idiomatic Blazor components.
Explore the project at blazorocticons.net.
Ideal Customer
Primary ICP: Blazor developers building internal tools, dashboards, SaaS products, or open-source projects who want reliable, recognizable icons with minimal setup.
Secondary ICP: Teams already aligned with GitHub’s visual language who want consistency across documentation, tooling, and UI.
Shared traits:
- Comfortable with NuGet-based workflows
- Prefer native framework abstractions over generic wrappers
- Value predictability and simplicity over customization overload
- Often working in internal or developer-facing products
BELT Framework
BELT is a customer behavior model used to explain why people adopt tools.
- Behavior: Developers need icons repeatedly and want them to “just work” without setup overhead.
- Enduring: Icons are a permanent part of UI development; Blazor projects will always need them.
- Lock-ins: Once icons are embedded as components, replacing them is tedious but unnecessary.
- Transient: Growing Blazor adoption and continued GitHub design influence.
Messaging Evaluation (No Rewrite Required)
The core message — “GitHub Octicons built as customizable .razor components” — is already precise and sufficient.
The messaging works because it:
- States exactly what it is in one sentence
- Uses developer-native language without marketing translation
- Avoids aspirational or emotional framing
- Immediately answers the question “why does this exist?”
For infrastructure tooling, this level of clarity is preferable to storytelling.
Why This Messaging Works
BlazorOcticons respects the mental model of its audience. Developers arriving at the site already know what Octicons are and already know what Razor components are.
By not overexplaining or reframing the problem, the project minimizes cognitive load and maximizes trust. The documentation-first layout reinforces credibility and encourages immediate adoption.
This is a strong example of copy that succeeds by getting out of the way.
Differentiation
- Delight: Icons as native Razor components with simple size and color parameters.
- Hard to Copy: Tight alignment with Blazor idioms and Octicons’ canonical design.
- Positioning Wedge: Infrastructure utility, not a design abstraction layer.
- Open Source Signal: Trust through transparency and longevity.
Strategy and Growth Loop
Strategy: Be the default Octicons implementation for Blazor.
North Star Metric: Installs per active Blazor project.
Growth Loop:
- Developer installs the NuGet package
- Icons integrate seamlessly into the UI
- Project becomes a reference or template
- Other developers copy the setup
- Library adoption spreads organically
Final Recommendations
- Preserve minimalism — avoid feature creep
- Keep documentation front and center
- Lean into “boring but correct” positioning
- Let adoption be driven by usage, not persuasion