Vector Graphics for Icon Design (Illustrator)

This is a project-based one-day class, intended to help students learn how to create a project, not necessarily to learn an entire program. This lesson is tied directly to its associated badge. Students will be able to earn a badge based on the project they complete in this class.

Objectives:

  1. Students will be able to create an icon using Illustrator.
  2. Students will understand the importance on sketching to create visually pleasing icons and graphics.

Outline:

  1. Introduction
    • briefly go over navigation & toolbars/panels
  2. Creating & editing basic shapes
    • Rectangle, ellipse, line, polygon, star tools
      • go over what (alt, shift, click & drag, cmnd/ctrl) do when creating shapes
    • Selection tool vs. direct selection tool
    • Properties panel (fill & stroke)
  3. Organizing and Combining Shapes
    • Alignment tools
    • Grouping
    • Shape Builder tool/Pathfinder
  4. Layers Panel:
    • Creating/Arranging layers
    • Locking/Hiding layers
  5. Color
    • Color modes (RGB vs. CMYK)
    • Eyedropper tool
    • Opacity
    • color.adobe.com
    • Gradients
  6. Sketching
    1. Why is sketching important?
      1. If you sketch first, you get all your ideas out on paper and are less attached to them. You can easily make changes and get feedback.
      2. Activity: have everyone make a few sketches of an icon or logo. They can recreate one of the logos from the files or come up with their own. Ask a few people to share their sketches with the class.
  7. Activity: give everyone the rest of the class to make their logo or icon. Be there to give feedback or assistance.

Class Files: Vector Graphics for Icon Design (Illustrator)

Sample Questions:

  • What are some other benefits of sketching you can think of?
  • Review: what do the different pathfinder tools do?
  • How might you use color.adobe.com to make designing logos and icons easier?