Icons
In this project, we chose 5 different words to research and create an icon for. We did research in order to learn more about the words chosen, hoping to give a new meaning, learn new things, and create a new look to the word. These icons were meant to teach us about simplicity and semiotics, the difference between connotation and denotation.
The left image shows a small amount of the brainstorming done. The right is my final product for each of the words as turned in.
Escape. While researching for this word, new and different meanings were brought to my attention. However, I took more of a personal, well known approach when creating my icon. My inspiration for this word was books and fantasy worlds. I made this personal by including a book shelf in a circle. My escape is to dive into a book and pretend to be somebody else until I've read the last word.
When I picked this word, lips was the first thing I had thought of. My professor helped me to realize their can be many different meanings to the word kiss. Touching noses is commonly known as a butterfly kiss in the United States, however its also a common way to show affection towards the one you love in other countries. Countries such as New Zealand.
Forbid, when I started brainstorming ideas they were mainly surrounded by the law. Handcuffs or drawing the justice scale in different ways. My research led me to my idea that later became my icon. When forbid first became a word it was used in a biblical sense, used as "god forbid..." Which is where my forbidden fruit idea spurred from.
Spare was one of the words I had struggled with. I was going back and forth between things such as spare change and sparing ones life. I eventually settled on a homeless approach. While brainstorming ideas, I came across a photo of a man crouch on the ground holding up a sign. I did my best to recreate an abstract version of him, adding distorted blocks in-front to show how people act as though homeless people are hidden or invisible.
Embark was originally a complex icon. I went through several deleted and renewed ideas when creating this icon. Towards the end, I threw out most of my ideas and drew a simpler icon. This icon was meant to be typography, but it turned into an abstract version of a person carrying a luggage. The head being an 'e' for embark and the luggage was the letter 'm' before it became a simple bag.
