Process
I originally recruited for the Summer 2020 season looking for a front-end software engineering internship and had that opportunity taken away due to the circumstances of COVID-19. So from April to mid-May, I worked diligently in the recruiting process to find any opportunity that could come my way so that I wouldn’t waste this summer. Eventually, I secured an unexpected position as a UX Design intern at PureUX and was able to learn more about proper user interface and experience principles and design, and further develop my wireframing, prototyping, and design skills. Because this was a sudden shift in career for me, I learned a lot and found a passion, so I have pivoted my career aspirations from software engineering to UI/UX Design.
I wanted my project to showcase this newfound passion and combine it with the very members of this homegroup I have come to care for through the summer. So my final product became a collection of simple icons and images that are unique to each member of homegroup, paying homage to some of their unique traits, hobbies, and likes. Each icon and all of their components are hand made with the tools in figma, as to challenge myself to create without pulling any components from other online sources.
While I began by creating each icon as an individual entity, I found myself working in a common theme, designing each icon with a simplistic and minimalistic theming. As much as possible I tried to make every component and shape out of simple polygons and shapes. I challenged myself to try and make these icons as recognizable as possible with the least amount of detail possible. The end result turned into a collection of individual icon snapshots that all share this minimalistic theming and each take some of the items I associate with each respective homegroup member. I found myself using creative problem solving to make the most out of the simplistic shape and distortion tools to create each image, like using ellipses and a rectangle to create sillhouttes of cylinders. From gaming, to penny boarding, to a love for baked goods, to a new found addiction for webtoons and netflix, I had a funtime creating these icons as gifts for each member of homegroup.
