Rock Gear Glyphs
The goal was to create five original icons that could be used together in a single project. Rock Gear Glyphs aims at capturing the essence of music through visual symbols – each icon representing a different instrument that has shaped the soundscape of generations. By blending timeless forms with modern design, Rock Gear Glyphs seeks to honor the instruments that inspire creativity while offering a fresh, distinctive identity for the project.
Sketching
There are thousands of musical instruments in the world. I only needed five – something that says, “rock-n-roll.”
Basic Concepts
I started off making a few outlined designs of some of the sketches. Some I felt more passionately about than others.
5 Designs
After trial and error in initial concepts, I settled on five rock music type icons. I ditched the piano and added a bass guitar.
Changes
The guitar icon lacked the resemblance of a real acoustic guitar, and I wasn’t happy with the shape of the drum. Each seemed too cartoonish, which I wanted to stay away from. It was important to me to make the icons look like an actual replica of the instrument (in 2D, of course.)
Evolutions
Each instrument went through stages of change and editing. Various color pallets were used but in the end, the final icons had a monochromatic blue theme. I wanted the icons to include a visual common theme (with color) in addition to the theme of rock instruments themselves.
Conclusion
This project was challenging as it was one of the first creative visual projects I’ve ever created. I’m not happy with the final color scheme I chose but I knew going into the project that I wanted the icons to serve their purpose as one cohesive unit, and to be used together rather than individually.
Choosing a monochromatic color scheme that was semi-neutral and not super flashy allowed this purpose to be served, but I genuinely think they look better with their own colors so they can be even more so identified by their shape. The creation of the icons taught me a lot about precision and how I may need to work on my line accuracy.
At the end of the day, instrument icon set may not be perfect, but they’re mine.