For this past project, I’ve been working on designing an icon set in Adobe Illustrator. We were instructed to create icons while applying several skills we’ve learned in Adobe Illustrator. I chose to create four characters from the TV series, Adventure Time. My husband is a big fan of this show so I figured it would be fun to create something totally unique. This TV series is very universal with humor that kids enjoy, as well as clean, witty things that adults would enjoy, hence why my audience are people familiar with Cartoon Network. These people can range from children to young adults. Throughout this post, I will discuss each characters and the different elements I used to create it. Below is an exported version of my icon set.
One of the requirements for this project was to export PNG’s of each icon. For the remaining graphics on this post, you will see a large icon next to a smaller icon. The larger icon is 400 pixels and the smaller icons are 60 pixels. As you can see, the icons below are a bit pixelated, but like I said before, this was the requirement for the assignment. You can see the crispness of the original icons in the image above.
This is Finn the Human. He is one of the main characters on Adventure Time. I actually had originally planned on just doing Finn’s head, but after careful thinking of the constant theme of my icon set, I figured that he should have a body because the other characters do. I used several different shapes to create him. For the most part he was fairly easy to create. The shape builder tool came the most handy to create difficult shapes such as Finn’s head. I learned how to use the curvature tool a little bit more while creating his socks.
Once again, the shape builder tool was a great resource to create something obscure as Jake’s nose. I was surprised at how nicely my shapes overlapped each other on his face. I had originally just done a circle icon with the character’s face on it. However, I wanted there to be a similar theme with all my icons, so I chose to construct the whole body for this character, rather than just the head.
The design of the Ice King was pretty complicated, especially when it came to his beard. I use lot of small triangles and combined them together while taking out other pieces using the shape builder tool. I used the reflector tool for the other half of the Ice King’s mouth, as well as for the smaller ruby’s on his crown. While combining shapes to make his beard, I also found the curvature tool quite handy to bring in certain points.
Lumpy Space Princess was the first character that I completed. A careful combination of tons of circles combined together created her figure. Since she’s floating, I figured that adding a shadow (also of combined ellipses) would really finish off the design. 
By creating this icon set, I’ve definitely gotten a better grasp on the more complex concepts and principles found in Adobe’s Illustrator. There were several times when I had to resort to a Youtube tutorial video in answering my questions, but because I had a way to apply what I was learning, I feel more confident than ever in designing an icon set. I’ve become more familiar with the process of actually designing graphics of things that I either see in my head or see around me.
If we take a closer look at the text in the purple box, we see that the typeface for the first set of text is sans serif. The specific sans serif font used in the ad is without serifs at the end of the strokes. The viewer doesn’t see any kind of thick/thin transition, but rather a text that we see as “monoweight”. If a text is monoweight, every angle 
and side of the text is the same thickness. To the right you’ll see that I drew over several letters. It wasn’t a difficult process because of the fact that the thickness remains the same throughout. I believe that the designer chose to use this kind of typeface, sans serif, to make the message not only bold, but persuasive. ” is a strong, catchy phrase with a lot of potential. Naturally, this is what our eye views first and foremost.
The next section of text that I would like to analyze is highlighted in blue. As we can see, the designer utilized another typeface on the ad. The script category includes all of the typefaces that resemble hand lettered, as if writ
ipts are to be used sparingly, just so they don’t take the majority of the attention. The script font does an excellent job
variation in simple color choices. There are literately three colors: Oreo cookie black, off white, and a humble shade of blue. The colors are spread out enough that they don’t clash, yet they’re all quite complementary. Although the text remains the same, there is yet again another combination of those three colors. I think the Oreo cookie split in half, each part on a different side of the ad, I think that it’s so catching to the eye because of its contrast. Sure, it’s the same Oreo cookie, yet to the audience, the cookie itself is like completely separate from the creme, and vise versa.
how the designer utilized the principle of alignment. As you can see, I drew a vertical line, and a horizonal line. There is an obvious visual connection when we look at the ad this way. If you were to cut it in half vertically, it would almost be a mirror image. The designer already placed a faint line horizontally, which serves as a breaker for the image, meaning that it helps with the organization as a whole. Unity is another result of proper alignment. There is nothing on the page that serves as a distraction or block. In fact, the entire ad is placed in the center of the viewer’s screen.
my eye. I’ve marked the four corners with “X’s” to show the white space, or unused portion. Although there is white space in this ad, I don’t necessarily see it was excessive. In fact, there is just enough space around the border of the ad that it looks balanced. We see that the proximity from the border to the edge of each banner is equal. There is a similar distance between the Oreo’s and the banner. I like how the designer didn’t try and cram everything into such a small space. It all seems fairly close, yet at the same time, extremely balanced between the graphics and the edges.
nced. While there are only three colors, I feel like the ad doesn’t need any more, otherwise it might be a tad excessive. I especially find interested how at the bottom where is says, “Choose your side on Instagram @ Oreo”, the color of the text switches to blue for the username. Although it’s not consistent, it goes really well and helps the username/account for Oreo stand out. After all, that’s what the designer wants us to remember.