Course: COMD 1200 Graphic Design Principles II
Assignment: Create an image suitable for use as a digital property icon.
Background: With the shift to mobile media usage across cultures, the need to convey information visually, rather than through text, has grown. Designing icons to represent objects, actions, or concepts has become a crucial skill for students as more interactions are condensed into taps.
To succeed in this task, students must learn how to craft an image that embodies an idea rather than merely illustrating it. They need to consider whether their visual representation can evolve into a universally understandable symbol, avoiding clichés or confusion.
I initiated the process by assigning students different words from a list. These words included nouns and verbs, which served as the foundation for their icon designs.
Some of the students’ brainstorming grids:
Further, they developed a black and white version
and added color after building a color guide:
and ultimately, the finished icon:
Integral to this instruction is how symbols–icons really–communicated ideas in different cultures through the data sheets I created:
Although students have had significant exposure to image editing software, that knowledge is difficult to retain without daily use. To mitigate this, I assembled data sheets for all the courses I teach, which helped them add color, form and other design elements to their work:
