This project assignment was to make twelve icons that are cohesive and well designed. In this project we were given the assignment to create twelve icons of anything we wanted. So with this creative freedom I chose to create sea animals. But I wanted them to be different. So I was thinking of different ways to make them interesting and new. Then it came to me. Make them triangles. With the main shape being a triangle, I began! In this case study I will go through my creative process while creating my icons to give you a glimpse into how I created these Acute Aquatic Creatures. 

Here are the cleaned up version of my sketches. I started out with the same triangle shape and a list of ocean animals that I wanted to create. I then started to sketch out the basic shapes and identifying features of each animal. I wanted the icons to be immediately recognizable and iconic. So I carefully thought out what made each animal iconic. I ended up changing some of the subjects while I was creating the drafts and the final project. 

I created a draft of half of my icons. While creating this draft I decided that I wanted to have the icons mostly symmetrical down the center. I wanted one of the only exceptions to this rule to be the shading and the occasional asymmetry. In this draft the shading and stroke thickness is not consistent. 

In my critique, I was advised to make my strokes consistent with the outside/outline strokes in thickness. I was also told that the composition of the octopus was good, with the sharp lines and angles of the triangle with the organic flowing lines of the tentacles. And lastly I was advised to change the darkest part of the shading on the left to make it curved instead of straight. I was told that this would make it look more professional.  

And here we have the final icons! I had a lot of fun making these, although I will admit that it was a challenge learning how to use the Adobe Illustrator tools to make what I wanted.

So for these final icons I switched out some of the original animals for others. I also changed the shading to be more consistent throughout all of the icons. I also use the same stroke thickness for all of the icons. For the design principle of color I chose to use four base colors and I kept the shading and highlight colors the same for each color. The outlines are not a solid black but a dark navy blue to make the icons look more professional. I also made sure to make the shadow and shading colors similar but different enough to create a noticeable contrast. I used alignment to keep the outline of the icons symmetrical. There is also repetition in some of the icons with their legs, highlights, tentacles, and lines. 

So in conclusion I believe that I when I made these icons I had a good understanding and use of the design principles, such as color, contrast, alignment, and repetition. I also believe that these icons are creative, well thought out, eye catching, and done in a memorable way.