My role: Graphic Design (Independent)
Timeline: 2 months, November - December 2014
Tools: Adobe Illustrator
In 8th grade (2014), I was really bored after school and I was looking for an easy way to make some money that didn't require a car. I'd heard of the Noun Project before, and when I found out that designers could earn royalties for uploading icons, I jumped at the opportunity. As my first exposure to digital design, this project introduced me to the field of human-centered design that still fascinates me today!
I started teaching myself Illustrator with a free course on Skillshare, in which the project was to illustrate a day in my life using icons. My first icons illustrated the mundanities of my day as a middle schooler.
As I continued exploring, I wanted to use icons to facilitate more meaningful communication. The following collections were inspired by my own struggles to teach my grandmother in China how to use her laptop and iPhone over video calls.
I wanted to use the visual language of icons to help people overcome language barriers to learning technology. This was my first exploration in using design to make technology more accessible.
Since I started in December 2014, I now have over 120 icons published on the Noun Project which have accumulated over 40,000 total downloads.
Check out my full profile on the Noun Project.