The icon designs led to further development. First, I transformed the impala icon into a logo for a gymnastics studio, as the animal symbolizes agility and flexibility—qualities that align perfectly with gymnastics.
Next, I used the impala and game warden icons as the foundation for a short animation in Adobe After Effects. The animation centers on a game warden being chased by a poacher while attempting to free an impala. Throughout the animation, the game warden changes into three different disguises.
Process
Inspiration and Ideation
The first stage of the process involved drawing inspiration from other designers' work to understand how to simplify animals. I also created early sketches to explore my own approach to iconography and determine my design sensibilities.
Illustrations
I created numerous illustrations of each animal to study their movements and unique features. Full-body illustrations were particularly helpful in capturing their movement, while headshots were valuable for breaking down the animals into simplified shapes for the icons.
From these illustrations, I created 10 silhouettes for each animal to help simplify and break them down. These silhouettes were then reviewed in a group critique, where participants highlighted the strongest designs and pointed out the weaker ones.
From the silhouettes, four were selected as the final choices, as they best captured the desired pose, silhouette, and movement. These were then refined and developed into the final icons for the project.
