An Archers Guide to Icons
The project at hand was to create 12 icons that embodied the many aspects of archery. I wanted to show that there was so much more to archery than just a simple Reflex Bow, Arrows, and Targets. Archery is all about being relaxed and taking time, it is about the simplicity behind patience.
Stephen Amell once said, "You have to relax when you're shooting an arrow. You can't be tense. And that just helps, in your day-to-day life."
The end goal was to create a simple icon set that shows the relaxing nature of archery.
SKETCHES
The sketching process was continuous throughout the whole design process. My thoughts were always to get things down on the paper, just generate as many ideas as possible. I tried different arrows, wrist guards, feathers, all of it. My goal in the sketching progress was to not only get ideas down but to think of which shapes would be needed to create each sketch I made.
DRAFT
Although these first 6 were simple, some were a bit too simple while other aspects were too complicated. The arrowhead and targets were plain, no extra design just very basic. There were three separate styles of feathers, which was far too complex for the simple look I was going for. And although I liked the Navy Blue coloring, something was off about it.
FINAL
Through many consultations with Cory Kerr and critiques from my peers I came to these final 12 icons. The simplicity of archery is shown through black white and a little bit of red. There is a slight design added to the arrow head and many different styles of bows. The thick stroke is used for the main outline whereas a thin stroke is used for detail and bow strings. The quiver only shows three arrows in order to not overwhelm anyone looking at it and the feather on every arrow is the same. The scope features the simple circle instead of adding in the rod and all of those attachments.
This icon set is simple and relaxing, it is not full of crazy distracting details, just like archery.
