Here we are, the start of another new year. What better way to begin this next 12 months than another personal design challenge and goal to create some new work and grow a bit more creatively? Maybe there’s a few, but nothing comes to mind at the moment. Get back with me later.
When I took on the 300 Random Icons challenge in 2012, it really pushed me creatively. It essentially enveloped my entire year of spare time – you know the time I didn’t spend working. Now, don’t get me wrong, there were some great benefits from taking on such a project. Not only did I develop and discover some new styles and really ramp up my conceptual thinking, it gave me a great stockpile of vector pieces and parts to use for other projects, and it got me sketching a whole lot more, again.
But, 300 icons was a LOT of work. Much more than I had anticipated originally. Hey, you learn, right?
SO, WHAT’S WITH THE SKULLS THING?
I know, it seems kind of odd – especially for me. But, to do this sort of project, I wanted to use a commonly depicted visual element and try and interpret it in as many ways possible. If you look around, skulls and skull illustrations are all around us in many different forms – both fun and of course, slightly macabre. Some for logos, some for icons, and some even for information graphics. Lots of uses for something we hominids all have. It seems to be the perfect element to work with, creepiness aside.
Over that last few weeks, I’ve done a bunch of sketches for possible concepts and decided this might be a cool next step, and decided to jump in. As with my previous project, I’m not saying all the work will be stellar and some of it may even suck, but it will be all part of the journey and hopefully will help make me a better creative person.
WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU DOING?
Icons. Essentially, icons that will be communicating a concept with a very simple and clean visual solution. These won’t be icons that you will use for your average website for things like ‘print’ or ‘payment’. I am focusing on taking the form of the skull and its attributes that are all familiar to us and creating an icon that communicates an interesting comment or idea. They might be one-color or many, simple or illustrative in whatever style I may see fit.
They are not meant to work together as a set, but just an exercise in making the visual communicate clearly. As mentioned in the title, they will be random skull concepts and really could be anything. Some may be basic and some may have a little humor, I just don’t know yet. That’s the cool part of trying something like this.
Can some of these icons work as logo designs? Sure. And some of my icon design could even be considered illustration, depending on the work style.
WHY 98 OF THEM?
I picked 98 to try and design and post them often enough, but I didn’t want to kill myself trying to keep up. That way, it would force me to keep with it, but not have to post every single day. I do enjoy my family and weekends.
WHEN ARE YOU STARTING?
I’m starting December 9th, 2013 and continuing until I hit 98 icon designs, whenever that happens, but during the 2014 calendar year.
Want to catch the rest of the design challenge in the coming months? Check out the blog, or get the feed.
