Work Related : Icon Making for Bfab.my

I love making icons. I'm still finding a style that I want to stick to but for now I'm exploring some different options. In the learning process, there will be a lot of unused/unwanted icons so I put it up on my Behance. 

Some icon designers put a lot of effort in the pre-development stages : they do nice hand-drawn sketches in a book and all. I'm still in the stage where I want to explore my styles and learn how people actually do it. My favorite teacher is Dribbble, that's where I find inspiration and nice colour combos. 

Here is the latest simple icon created for Bfab in 'Benefits' section. The left part is the rough sketches I did to show my boss when I explain to him about what I was planning do. While the right part is the icons.

My mistakes :

• Didn't stick to the 9x9 box while creating the icons, some icons are a bit long - but suitable to be use next to the longer paragraphs. It is just a bit odd when compiled into a gif.
• Didn't stick to the branding colours - it is supposed to be black and peach, instead of grey and peach. I just thought it looked nicer this way. But later it seems a bit off in the website.
• I'm not fully satisfied with the style, but I was the one who gave the initial idea in using one-line-icon for the branding. So I guess I need to stick with this for now.

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A compilation :

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Work Related : 634 days with LGM & TRP team - Part 1

I received another great offer from a local start-up company about a month ago. It has been 6 months since they approached and offered me a job but that was the time when I was too busy with the Hello Kitty Cafe project so I had to decline. 

Surprisingly, they approached me again and after a week of consideration I think it's time for me to go and spread my wings to new challenges and skills. It is hard to leave, but they had a better offer, new scopes that I wanted to learn and I've been wanting to work with a startup company for awhile. T^T

To make it official, it was a great 634 days with the team. 

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Here is what I learned from LGM & TRP team :

1. Always be aware of your weaknesses. 

My boss mentioned that my weaknesses are : Colour combo, style variations, and basic designing rules/terms. I wasn't majored in design, I was majored in IT so I didn't know a LOT especially basic theories. I asked her what I was bad at, and I gave myself space to learn from my colleagues. They critiqued my works as I critiqued theirs. We have a very healthy working environment.

I also keep links to my references : Colourlovers , Flat UI Colors

Knowing your weaknesses is supposed to help you improve. 

Always refer from any resources and create a moodboard before you start on a project. 

For example, this is the colour combo I originally chose for Hello Kitty Cafe and that was the mood/style I was looking for : brush/watercolour/soft style :-

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2. Keep a huge collection of inspirations + researches

I'm using Pinterest, Behance and Dribbble for my personal library. They are my ultimate teachers. If you think learning from other people is low beneath you, then you will never reach anywhere - *because you are being arrogant. The important thing in teaching ourselves how to be good in something is by learning from our surrounding. Just like how you learn when you grew up as a baby, it was really fast, isn't it?

I have a Pinterest folder of everything from : Magazine, Poster, Packaging, Website, Infographic, Uniform, DIY, Branding to other little things like : Machine, Girls, Little Apartments and stuffs.

I also have my own book where I keep every moodboards I ever printed on projects :

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3. Learn the right way to imitate

Not everyone is born with a good talent in designing and own a 4-year graphic degree, as I said before some people like me needs extra effort and time to learn the skills & techniques. Learning shouldn't be intimidating. It should be fun, exciting and challenging to the point that one day, you will find you, in every one.  

So I learned a lot by :

1. Imitate the pros,

2. Learn their techniques,

3. Pour everything you learned in a bowl,

4. And bake your own cookie and do magic !

As Steve Jobs said :  " Creativity is just connecting things ". 

So you just have to learn from the pros. 

Note : Imitate and copycat (plagiarism) are 2 different things though.

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4. Adapt fast

I realized that every art director/clients have their own favorite and style. My task as a senior graphic designer is to adapt to their likings fast and time-efficiently, but not to forget my own style completely. It is important to be flexible and accept things requested with an open-mind. 

As a designer, I know it is hard for you to put limitation on certain things because you have your own way of doing things but; work is work. You can always do freelance or personal jobs using your own styles and strokes, but at work you need to adapt to what is needed and requested.

Lower down your ego, follow your art director or supervisor. 

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5. Keep all the rejected works

I have tons of rejected works in the past 2 years. All because of my try-and-error artworks and having a perfectionist art director. Sometimes it is quite frustrating to have things rejected for weeks, but those things can always be used for other projects or personal portfolios.

So it is not a waste of time & effort.

See all these rejected icons for various projects that I did since last years.

Other illustration from rejected project : The Wise Bear

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