Daily UI #055 - Icon Set

Thoughts on Today’s Challenge
The practical UI icon set has been done, re-done, and refined time and time again. As designers in the digital era, we have our pick of the top shelf icon sets, most of which are free.

My initial thought was, how do I make an icon set that stands out in the sea of iconic perfection. My main goal for today was to create something unique and to have fun while doing so.

After brainstorming and sketching for several minutes, I landed gracefully as an Albatros on the concept of sentient icons. My idea was to create a somewhat straightforward and modern icon set, then slap little faces on them.

Genius, I know. They will write stories about this day.

The inspiration for this set stems from my go-to sketching move, drawing little faces on everything. I’m not sure why, but I just do. However, I believe some of that may come from my appreciation for very simple character design such as that seen in Adventure Time and the art style of the forest spirits in Princess Mononoke . This simplistic art style has resonated with me since I was young, and has spread to my design aesthetic as an adult.

I had a lot of fun making these icons, I may even make a full set. It was a nice break from the string of layout based designs I was doing previously, save a couple of animations.