Icon sketches for "dreaded report"

I’m really struggling with this icon for “Dreaded Report”. Maybe some of the boring, corporate cubicle office culture that I’m trying to infuse this icon with, is rubbing off on me?

So I made some variations, one with a ballpoint pen, one with a graph and one with a skull. And then I can’t make up my mind… Should I put them all in the collection, or leave some out? What do you think? [To be continued... ]

Did you miss the other parts of this series?

• Part One: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Sketches
• Part Two: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: A Vintage Touch
• Part Three: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Indicating Time
• Part Four: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Look and Feel

Icon design process. From sketch to basic shapes

When I’m happy with the sketches for the icons, I launch Adobe Illustrator and start blocking out the icons, drawing simple, clean vector shapes using my pen tablet. I’m designing the Collection of Process Icons in the same style that was established for the first three collections of desktop icons. In this unique design project, everything from the icon concept to the simple and elegant style is based on feedback from you. The look and feel for Process Icons uses the same set of perspectives with simple, uncluttered shapes that are easy to distinguish and find on your desktop. The style is based around a rich colour palette and elegant, natural textures.

Icon design process. Adding details, colour, shading and light

Once I’ve blocked in the basic shapes, I start adding details and colours, next shading and last highlights. In this example with the alarm clock you’ll notice the same palette of reds as in the icon with the Cookery Book, the same greys as in the Gear icon and the same soft cream as in the Shoebox icon. Using the same style consistently, ensures that all the icons fit together and that you can mix and match the different collections to suit your needs.

And in case you were wondering about the dotted lines across these images, yes they are the watermarks I designed for these icon previews to at least make it more difficult for people who want to steal images. [To be continued... ]

Did you miss the other parts of this series?

• Part One: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Sketches
• Part Two: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: A Vintage Touch
• Part Three: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Indicating Time

Today and tomorrow. Icon sketches

These are my sketches for icons that represent things that need to be taken care of “Today” and “Tomorrow”, or “Later”. Many of you have asked for “Today” and “Tomorrow” icons, some of you cooperate on projects where time needs to be specified, others need to schedule work to be published or for deadlines.

While I was working on these icons, I thought “what about adding the dates of a month, wouldn’t that be handy if you really need to indicate time with icons?”

So I made a few sketches to see what it would look like, and I’m thinking of adding a full month of days to the set. What do you think? [To be continued... ]

Calendar with dates. icon sketch

Did you miss the other parts of this series?

• Part One: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Sketches
• Part Two: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: A Vintage Touch

This time I’ve made experimental desktop art, abstract geometric compositions inspired by leaves. The club special of the season comes with 2 wallpapers and a set of 4 experimental desktop icons.

The wallpaper includes versions for fullscreen and widescreen computers as well as the iPhone and iPad. I’m excited to also include for the first time, a version for the new iPhone 4.

iPad users can use one wallpaper for the home screen and the other for the lock screen to create an elegant effect for the iPad desktop.

Join the club (it’s free!) to make sure you get these summer desktop treats for your desktop, and club members, keep an eye on your inbox!

Kate England. mosaic of icons

I love Brandi’s feature Ten Things, her series of mini-interviews that give a quick snapshot of the artists behind the art.

Today she’s published an interview with me, 10 Things About Kate England at brandi girl :: a life inspired by color.  Brandi did such a great job with this display of icons, didn’t she?!

Project. icon sketch with blueprint and hard hat

Here’s the second part of the story about a new design project I’m working on. It’s about the creative process of a new collection of icons called “Process”.

I started this design project by asking you what kind of icons would be exceptionally useful for you. Which are your recurring projects and important files and folders that you need to find at a glance? Which of your projects do you love the most?

I also started the process of my previous collections of desktop icons by asking you what kind of icons you need, what would help you get organized and find focus in your digital environment?

Each time I’ve asked you what kind of icons you’d find useful, one of the strong trends has been icons that depict tangible, vintage or retro objects to symbolize your most important or loved projects. For example, there were tons of requests for a feather quill pen for “Writing” or “Documents” and an old-fashioned vinyl LP for “Music” (both part of the Collection of Creative Desktop Icons). The vintage office equipment in the Collection of Workflow Icons is another example and so is the old book for “Resources” and leather briefcase for “Work” (both part of the Collection of Organizer Icons)

Perhaps these types of solid, vintage objects bring a tangible feeling of functionality and beauty to our rather abstract, digital environment? Holding a charm and grace that captures our emotions in a way that digital, intangible audio, text and film files don’t?

Safe. icon sketch

Here’s my sketch of an icon that represents “Safe”. A small, old-fashioned office safe.

This is where you would store documents that are really important to your self, your family or your business. I’ll be using the Safe to store my original logo files, a backup of my blog, and some other important business documents. The “Safe” icon would also make a great icon for a backup disc. What would you put in the Safe?

Urgent/Overdue/Late. icon sketch of an old-fashioned alarm clock

This is my sketch for an icon that symbolizes Urgent/Overdue/Late. A retro wind-up alarm clock with bells.

Here’s an icon with a unique silhouette that makes it stand out on the desktop so you can find it at an instant. And that’s just what you need when you’re looking for overdue or urgent projects.

One of the challenges when creating this sketch of an alarm clock, was making sure it would look good at small sizes too. I actually spent several days making new sketches of the design and testing that it would look great all the way down to the tiny size you see when you display your icons in list view. I’ll still be reworking the smaller versions, but I want the largest version to resemble the smallest version, as much as is possible without losing any of its functionality and beauty. That’s one of the most important parts of the sketching phase for a new icon project.

Another key part of the sketching phase is to create distinctive silhouettes that make it easy to locate the icon you’re looking for (I wrote about that in the first part of this series).

And last but not least, creating a family of icons where everyone is unique and has their own personality and yet you can tell that they’re family. They fit together as well as with the icons that belong with your operating system, either Windows or Mac. The icons bring a personal, designer feeling to your desktop, and without drawing too much attention to themselves, the icons help you get unstuck and organized so you can work with flow and ease through your day.

Not sure how to customize your icons? Here’s a tutorial for using icons on a Mac and here’s a tutorial for how to change the icons in Windows.

[To be continued... ]

Did you miss Part One of this series?

icon sketch, stamp of approval

Here are some sketches for the new set of icons I’m working on. This collection is called Process, and just as with my previous collections of desktop icons, I started off by asking you what kind of icons you need the most. The answer this time was that you need icons that indicate which stage of the process your important files and documents are in. You need to know at a glance where your sketches and drafts are, what’s overdue or urgent, what needs to be done today and which one is the final and approved version. So here we go…

The creative process starts by sketching the basic shape that creates an identity for the icon. A clear and distinct silhouette helps the user to quickly and easily find what they’re looking for. When I start designing the icons, I think about giving each icon a distinctive look that stands out on the desktop. Striving for a simple solution, less is more. [To be continued... ]

Process icon collection, sketches of lock, calendar and moleskine

Maria João Valente has been using Workflow Desktop Icons to structure her digital workflow with a minimum of effort, for more than a year.

“Basically it allows me to keep files organized and an uncluttered desktop (both essential to my sanity).”

Workflow Desktop Icons

Everything revolves around three main folders, “Doing”, “To-do” and “Archive”. These can be accessed directly via the Dock on a Mac, and are regularly checked or re-organized according to the workflow. All other folders are out of sight and serve as permanent storage for further use.

Here’s a flow chart of Maria’s digital workflow.

• The Work Zone contains all the files or folders that are being used now (i.e. this week).
• The To-Do Zone has stuff to be reviewed as soon as I have the time. (Hint: most of the downloaded files get here, to be organized later. Another Hint: I use Hazel to keep this place organized by file type.)
• The Out Zone folder is where I place all files or folders that are going to be exported and stored off my computer, either on an external HD, a DVD or online.

Maintaining a peaceful and productive desktop is easy when you follow your workflow.

By sharing her process, Maria hopes to help you get you going organizing your digital stuff. (Or share with us the process you’re already using.)

Maria João Valente is an archaeologist, university professor and a passionate Mac user. She lives in Portugal and blogs about her interests at Mac ao Quadrado. You can read my interview with Maria here or follow her on Twitter.

White Persian Cat Icon

These Cute Cat icons have just been released over at the Iconfactory. The collection includes six cat breeds: the Abyssinian, American Shorthair, Bombay, Russian Blue, Siamese and White Persian.

It was a snowy weekend in January, when these super cute, kawaii inspired cat illustrations first turned up. It started with one, and although I wasn’t sure what to do with them, they gradually expanded into a whole family of cat characters and suddenly it became clear to me, that they wanted to be icons.

Now I’m writing from the middle of July. There’s a heat wave. Summer dresses made of cotton or linen, watermelon, iced coffee, Gazpacho (cold Spanish vegetable soup), Chlodnik (Polish chilled beetroot soup), Ajo Blanco (Spanish chilled almond soup), nectarines, feta cheese and midnight swims in the lake are my life savers. And the creative process for Cute as a Button illustrations seems far away. In deep winter. But here they are, the first volume of Cute Cat icons.

Vintage Folder Icons Seaside is inspired by vintage textures, retro textiles and old films and bring a touch of nostalgia and the glamour of Technicolor film to your digital environment. Vintage Folder Icons go nicely together with the popular series, Luminous Folder Icons and help you get things done by color coding your projects.

This collection of folder icons is inspired by the seaside. In red, white and sand, Seaside folder icons bring the ocean, marine fashion and a minimalist vintage touch to your desktop.

Inspired by the seaside and the rich, saturated palette of Technicolor film, these folder icons help you create a personal desktop environment with a hint of nostalgia. Five folder icons in colours borrowed from the seaside, red, blue and sand or On the Beach, Ocean Liner, Powder Blue Cadillac, Warm Retro Red and Red Velvet Cinema.

Save Vintage Seaside Folder Icons to your computer.