Birdbrained

Vector Icon Set

I wanted to learn how to create a scalable icon set, but from the beginning I felt lost. I didn’t let that stop me though. I sat down with a pen and paper and I wrote down ideas for icons no matter how weird I thought they were. From that point I started drawing quick sketches. They included winter clothes, plant leaves, animals, more animals, famous pieces of art, Harry Potter, and random squiggles. I finally came across the idea of birds and I ran with it.

I tried to simplify the bird body a few different ways and decided to use a circle as the main shape with the wing and tail feathers coming out of it. I wanted to include song birds, ducks and geese in the icon set, but I struggled to make the geese and ducks look right.

I decided that ducks and geese were not going to work with the rest of my design so I scrapped them and decided to stay with the smaller birds. I also narrowed down my rules: a circle body with a beak and wing protruding, as well as a uniform eye.

I tried to simplify the bird body a few different ways and decided to use a circle as the main shape with the wing and tail feathers coming out of it. I wanted to include song birds, ducks and geese in the icon set, but I struggled to make the geese and ducks look right.

I decided that ducks and geese were not going to work with the rest of my design so I scrapped them and decided to stay with the smaller birds. I also narrowed down my rules: a circle body with a beak and wing protruding, as well as a uniform eye.