Compound Word Icons
Converting words into symbols isn’t enough. Icons need to communicate effectively on their own.
Icons shown at actual size:
Project overview and objectives | Produce icon symbols for web use (75×75 pixels) based on compound words. Present the symbols to strangers and survey them to see if they get the symbols or not. Compile a summary of the survey results to demonstrate what is working and what is not.
What I learned | I learned to keep things as simple as possible. People would guess the words so literally that I had to actually make the focal point the first word and the rest of the composition the second part of the word. For this assignment I was able to “Art Direct” for my group in class. It was interesting to help others in my group solve their design problems and to try to help each other stay on task. I learned to have confidence and to be honest in critiquing others. The icons ultimately had to be read as small web icons; testing them in a web browser was especially valuable. Taking feedback from my survey and making minor adjustments proved to be an invaluable source of insight.
Process | For each compound word I drew out a word chart and tried to brainstorm from connecting associated words together. From there I began to sketch and find good design solutions that read well. Next I took my best sketches and scanned them into the computer. My scans served as a basis for my illustrator files. I used the pen tool to to define the right shape and refined the vector images from there. Next I pasted the vector shapes as pixels into Photoshop and scaled them to a 75 x 75 pixel canvas.
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