The Evolution of Icons
I wanted to challenge my icon design skills and think of new ways to quickly design vector icons, as well as have some fun, flat icons to use in my resume.
- The first page is a hand-drawn sketch page. I only dedicated 2 minutes to each icon, although for a few concepts, I did two versions. I did two versions of portfolio, two for ideas or projects, two for “like”, and many to represent mobile devices (including “selfie” in the lower right-hand corner. I wanted to play with the idea of “wireframe” icons since wireframing is a huge chunk of my life. When challenging myself to design a clock, I did a traditional design and then realized the impact that stopwatches (although usually on a phone) play into my life whether it be running or a 3 minute timer for a cup of coffee. I also decided to include the basics like options, edit, email, and chat.
- Page 2 is the first round of migrating my drawings to Illustrator and translating my pencil strokes to shapes and lines. I went for a simple, 3 color scheme with black outlines. Some of my original sketches didn’t make it to this round as I realized that my designs didn’t translate to basic shapes very well. I added a traditionally shaped camera, an education icon, an additional version of chat and email.
- My next step was to colorize my icons. I came up with a fun palette to vary the backgrounds and fills.
- While flat is so in right now, flatter is fashionable too. I transformed my icons to a simple white stroke but kept the funky background colors for a little life in my set.
- But as the icons take life, I wish to evolve them and thus, the final result (so far). More, color, more depth…more fun.
- I really wanted an icon to demonstrate A/B UX testing, important items in my everyday life, and what is more fun than beer? I’m sure there will be a UI that requires the usage of all.
