by Jiachen Wang, DLINQ Intern
In my personal inquiry this semester, I decided to use Adobe Illustrator to create icons for the Community Agreements page on our DLINQ Intern Handbookwebsite. In my previous personal inquiry, I had learned to use Adobe Illustrator to design posters for the Wilson Media Lab. This time I felt very comfortable using the software again.
Find Potential Icon Designs Online
The first step in my creative process was to try to find inspirations online. After some digging, I was lucky to find the Noun Project, an extremely helpful website that provides free icons and stock photos. By typing in keywords such as “communication,” “language,” “feedback,” “mentorship,” and “curiosity,” I found in total twelve icons that I may be able to use in my own designs.
Redesign Potential Icons to Fit the Website
After downloading potential icons online, my next step was to use Adobe Illustrator to redesign and standardize them so that they could share the same visual style. Then I added contrasting colors on them. The colors I first used were vanilla white and warm navy blue.
Receiving Feedback
After receiving feedback from Joe and my DLINQ teammates, I decided to try out different colors that were a better fit for the website’s color theme. In the end, I decided to alternate between lavender purple and sailor blue.
I also changed the designs of a few icons that my teammates found to be confusing. For example, for “Keep Curiosity,” I changed the icon from the left to the right to prevent possible misunderstanding.
Final Products are available on the Community Agreements page on our DLINQ Intern Handbook website.
What I learned:
In general, the biggest lesson I learned in my personal inquiry is to value the feedback of my teammates. During the creative process, anyone can make a mistake or overlook certain details, such as the combination of colors. But other people’s opinions can provide a fresh perspective on my own work. In the meantime, I also learned to do more research and utilize more online resources. The Noun Project has helped me a lot in my digital designs.