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

Tags: colour, creative process, design, focus, getting organized, ink, organized, Process Icons, productivity, sketch, vectors

Here’s the third 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”.

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

Tags: creative process, design, focus, getting organized, ink, organized, Process Icons, productivity, sketch

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?

Tags: creative process, design, focus, getting organized, ink, organized, Process Icons, retro, sketch, vintage

Increasing Your Productivity Using Computer Icons

Resources. Leather bound book with green apple.

Your productivity when you use your computer, is directly influenced by the ease with which you are able to find and launch your favourite applications, find the projects you are working on, your important files and folders and find, organize and retrieve your internet downloads.

This is why software developers spend a lot of time and money designing icons for their applications.

Doesn’t that indicate that we who use computers, can benefit from spending a few minutes customising our own projects?

Many of us spend more and more time working in a digital environment. A cluttered desktop environment will make you feel overwhelmed. Taking a few minutes to sort it out, make it personal and more functional will pay off by making work more fun and easy, so you can finish your work sooner and spend more time doing something else.

As en extra bonus, you get an overview of your projects when you customize your desktop icons which also helps and motivates in keeping your desktop uncluttered and tidy. Here are three different approaches to using icons as a productivity tool.

Color Coding Your Projects

Green Folder Icon

A simple way to create a more productive digital environment is to use Luminous Folder Icons to colour code your projects.

This is a technique that’s easy to personalize and adapt to different types of projects and files.

Besides, you can pick your favourite colours and bring a splash of color to your desktop into the bargain.

Using Icons To Support Your Workflow

To Do Icon

A quick and easy approach is to create a desktop environment that follows your workflow organically.

This example with an icon of a vintage clipboard from the Workflow Collection would make an excellent choice for a folder with projects to-do. The symbol is easy to understand and the icon stands out on the desktop making it easy to find.

The Workflow Collection brings an action-oriented, harmonious structure to your desktop with a minimum of effort or need for maintenance. Find out more about how to organize your desktop by naturally following your workflow.

Using Icons For Your Projects

Finances Icon

Using icons for the projects you’re working on will help you find and organize your files.

If your work consists of recurring projects, you could make a template project folder based on what’s needed, and simply copy the project when starting a fresh project.

Here’s an icon with a leather wallet and some coins from the Organizer Collection. This would make a great choice for a folder with documents related to money. Invoices, finances, the budget for a project, there are many possibilities.

Next an icon with a cotton reel with green thread from the Creative Collection that could be used for needlework, crafting, colour swatches, sewing, textiles, quilting, handmade, again these are just a few ideas.

These symbols can be used and redefined by the user in many different ways. Check out the Productive Icons and see how you can make use of them.

Creating a desktop you love to spend time in, will help you enjoy your computer time and focus on your projects rather than feel overwhelmed by desktop clutter. And you’ll be able to finish your work earlier too.

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.

Tags: color code, desktop customization, digital environment, ease, focus, fresh start, getting organized, how-to, overwhelm, productivity, simplicity, tutorials

I spend a lot of time in in a digital environment, creating and designing using my computer as a tool, and so it becomes an extremely important space that I try to make both functional and beautiful so that it supports my creativity. Today I’d like to share two tools that I’ve found boost creativity as well as One Small Change for a greener digital life.

Concentrate

Concentrate

Concentrate is a simple and intuitive application that helps you eliminate distractions so that you can focus.

Concentrate lets you create Activities, which are groups of actions that help you focus on a task. For example, you may want to create an Art activity that quits social networks, launches your favourite software for creating art and changes your desktop to an image that makes you feel creative. If you like you can set a time for the activity.

Activities in Concentrate

Here you can see the different activities I’ve created with Concentrate.

There are activities for blogging, writing, art, economy, general focus, but also an activity that turns on social networks and my RSS-feed.

For a visually oriented person it’s wonderful to automatically switch desktop wallpaper to indicate that you’re moving into a different space. I love how it makes me feel like there are several spaces in the same digital environment, and as though I’m moving from one space to another when I switch between activities.

Below you can see my desktop dressed up with its regular wallpaper as well as the solid black I like to use when I focus on art and design.

This is software for the Mac. There’s a free demo of Concentrate and the application sells for $29 with a money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied.

Desktop for play and desktop for focus.

ColorSchemer Studio 2

ColorSchemer Studio 2

When you create art using digital tools, you use the colour wheel with its endless possibilities for selecting colours. I like to limit my palette when I start working on a piece and pick a group of colours as a starting-point. This is where ColorSchemer Studio 2 enters the scene.

ColorSchemer Studio 2 is a professional colour-matching application that helps you build beautiful colour schemes with speed and ease. It can help you identify colour harmonies, create unique palettes based on photos or images, find related colours, mix colours to create a gradient blend and work with RGB and CMYK colours in a colour-managed environment. But it doesn’t stop there.

With ColorSchemer Studio 2 you can preview colours on a variety of layouts, view colours through colourblind eyes and analyze contrast, readability, and accessibility!

This is an incredible tool for handling colour, again this is software for the Mac there is both a version for the Mac and for Windows and although the price-tag might be steep for a hobby I think it’s well worth it for professional art and design work. ColorSchemer Studio 2 costs $49.99 and there’s a free trial available.

One Small Change

Lastly, in February I’ll be making One Small Change to make my digital life more sustainable. I’ve already got my laptop set to be optimised for high energy savings, but I tend to leave it on and charging over night, so I can just flip the lid open in the morning and read my e-mail over my morning coffee. Of course it’s ridiculous to leave it on charging at night! So, no more of that.

Seashell, stones and a plug

Tags: art, colour, creativity, design, ease, eco, focus, green living, inspiration, Mac, overwhelm, reinventing digital life, review, simplicity, software, sustainable, Windows