Icon 1: The first icon I chose is a low volume with an X next to it. It is meant to represent my hearing loss that I was born with. I chose this as this is a huge part of me and it will always be a part of my life.
Icon 2: A golf club with a ball. This represents my childhood as I spent it playing golf at tournaments where I was ranked number 2 consistently in New York until I moved to florida. I chose this because it is a major part of my childhood and it was a bonding time with my dad and grandma who would cadie me in the tournament and it is something that even though I hated the sport, I will always be grateful because it taught me so many life lessons as well.
Icon 3: Superman Logo, This represents my love for superheroes/comics, S for Stephanie and this is specifically the 2006 logo which is the year i was born. I chose this because I wanted to somehow add comics but thought that doing a comic logo would be too much stuff happening and that it wouldn't look nice because of that. So i thought of superman/supergirl with their S logo (yes i know it technically means ‘Hope’) and thought that the S could stand for stephanie which would be giving more meaning, then while looking at logos i stumbled across the Brandon superman 2006 logo made for the movie. I thought this was perfect as it could represent three things in one which was amazing.
Icon 4: Paw Print. This represents my love for animals. I chose this as I absolutely adore a lot of animals and thought a dog paw print would be the ebay way to summarize that as I love dogs the most and wish to get one after i graduate college.
Icon 5: Music note, this represents my love for listening to music. My hearing aids are bluetooth so my music is playing 24/7 if i'm not talking to someone or in school (it is playing right now as i am writing this). I chose this because I listen to a lot of music and it's just a part of me. I also did try to learn the guitar and was doing okay until I had too much school stuff that I didn't have time and eventually forgot about it.
Icon 6: A mountain, this represents Rock climbing, Skiing and Hiking. I chose this as last year I discovered rock climbing and I am obsessed with it. I also chose this for skiing because every year for winter break we go to Switzerland to ski as that's where my dad grew up. As for hiking, I like hiking and it is a relaxing thing to do.
Icon 7: A pencil, this represents my major i am in and my hobby. I chose this as since i was a kid i was drawing or doing any type of art i could try and love it, it is also why i am doing this major as i want to do a form of art or design when i graduate.
Icon 8: 3 siblings, this represents me and my two brothers. I chose this as I love them so much and they help me whenever I need it, even if the younger one has to annoy me first before he helps. I did them in our accurate size like I am the shortest and my younger brother is still growing which is why he isn't as tall as our older brother like in the icon I made.
For the visual system, I kept all the icons with a 1 point, kept them black and white and for the background colors I stuck with three and used Gradient so that they would pop more. I tried to match the background color to the icon, such as the superman logo and the mountain. I gave them a light blue background because superman is associated normally with blue and when one looks at a mountain there is normally a blue sky in the background. For the golf, paw print and siblings I made green as the background because gold is done 90 percent on grass, animals play on grass and family photoshoots are normally done on a field that is grass, therefore green felt appropriate for those three. As for the volume, pencil and music note, those are with an orange background because those are often seen as emojis or everyday stuff so orange felt the right color for their background.
An icon I struggled with was the siblings one. When I first made it, I realized it looked clustered and like three mountains with a sun over them. To help try to tell what it is I added white lines that showed where each body was. However when i added the Gradient it looked awful and the white lines were there. Then I tried to change the outline from black to white but felt it did not match with the rest of the icons as they had a black outline. I was even considering just taking the easy way and deleting it so that I don't have to deal with trying to fix it. Eventually I got the idea to add white balls on the face to represent eyes. This way it is still simple and doesn't feel like too much is happening in the icon, and I prefer this much more than my first solution and I am happy I didn't take the easy way out.