So, here we are at no. 75 of the 300 Random icons design challenge. I know it doesn’t sound like much of a milestone, but it is for me. This makes me officially one-quarter of the way to the finish line. And, I’m happy to say that I’m pretty much on schedule to complete the challenge by the end of the year as promised.

If you’ve been following along for any amount of time, I’m sure you’ve seen some interesting trends showing up through the work. There have been some style experiments, shape experiments – some concepts were spot on and some were near misses. But, that’s all part of the process and I’m laying it all out there for you to see. Since we’re at a particular milestone, I thought I would give my readers (you know who you are) a brief update on how it’s going behind the scenes and what I’ve learned about myself and the process so far.

For my own records of this experience, I’ve decided to keep a binder of all the posted work and a file of the development work. Some versions I’ve designed didn’t make the cut, were more or less half-baked or I just couldn’t get them to work – so I didn’t post them. There are many.

Secondly, I’ve been keeping a log of each month and any interesting issues that have come up. For instance, I found that in January I was busting out concepts right and left with a surplus of 5-6 completed icons on deck and ready to post. I was feeling pretty good and thought that maybe this wouldn’t be that hard.

Well, let’s just say it hasn’t always been that easy. Many times, I’ve got one in the sketchbook and found some time during the day to put it together, only to post it very late in the day. Not so great for consistent blogging, right? Hey, I’m trying.

As far as two-word concepts, there are plenty in the surplus, and I’m always adding to it. My sketchbook is brimming with words, but not always visual ideas. On occasion, I go back and doodle something to work with it. This is a nice approach, with much less pressure, but doesn’t always get me the best idea out there – much like any commercial project, I guess.

A neat thing that has been fun is my kids are often asking what the icon of the day is and find great fun in ‘helping me out’ with ideas. I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve posted a few of theirs – hey, they were cool concepts. I get little Post-it notes in my office with their scribbles almost weekly.

Other things I’m finding out about myself on this project:

• I’m sketching a lot more, which is good and nothing energizes like a new sketchbook.
• Posting consistently helps me from overworking the idea and keeping it simple.
• Being consistent with a style is a constant battle, as I have several. It’s not always good to mix and match.
• I’m getting faster and more efficient.
• Experimentation of new styles is fun and challenging.
• There is considerable work in using good contrast with easy-to-read icons and branching out with new color palettes.
• I’m not a big fan of working on Saturday mornings to post work.
• Trying not to let my work suffer either commercially or with the icon project, due to scheduling conflicts – and I don’t want to have to work all the time to accommodate it.
• My iPhone makes a pretty good, down and dirty scanner for sketches. Just email it to yourself.

There you go. Here’s to the next 75, right? Thanks for following along.

It didn’t seem right to bury this blog with the constant stream of icon designs and completely ignore the regular content. It was like it didn’t exist anymore. So, I decided that the smart thing to do was start 300 Random icons as its own blog. Now, all the work will be posted and categorized right there for easy browsing and commentary.

I certainly hope you like it. And feel free to come back often.

To be honest, I’ve been rather impressed and a bit envious of some of the work that my fellow designers and illustrators have put forth in the last couple of years. Some really cool stuff has come out of their personal projects, and I’m feeling like I need something that will force me to work a little harder and expand my horizons. And, who knows, I may develop some new styles, techniques and workflows in the process. You know – learn stuff.

By posting it on this blog, I’ll hopefully be held more accountable for keeping it going and it should be a nice way to see how the project progresses.

I’m not saying all the work will be stellar and some of it may even suck, but it will be all part of the journey and hopefully will help make me a better creative person.

So, what exactly are you going to be doing?

Icons. Essentially, icons that will be communicating a concept with a very simple and clean visual solution. These won’t be icons that you will use for your average website for things like ‘print’ or ‘payment’. I am focusing on taking two keyword phrases (Ex. orange juice) that are all familiar to us and creating an icon that communicates that idea. They might be one-color or many, simple or illustrative in whatever style I may see fit.

They are not meant to work together as a set, but just an exercise in making the visual communicate clearly. As mentioned in the title, they will be random concepts and really could be anything. Some may be basic and some may have a little humor, I just don’t know yet. That’s the cool part of trying something like this.

Can some of these icons work as logo designs? Sure. And some of my icon design could even be considered illustration, depending on the work style.

Why 300 of them?

I picked 300 to try and design and post them often. That way, it would force me to keep with it, but not have to post every single day. I do enjoy my family and weekends.

When are you starting?

I’m starting January 1st, 2012 and continuing until I hit 300 icon designs, whenever that happens, but during the 2012 calendar year.

There you go. Stay tuned for the first installment and wish me luck. I think I’m going to need it.

Aside from the blog chatter and industry lore, I really didn’t know that much about him, which is one of the main reasons I decided to read the book. This is even coming from someone like myself who’s worked with Apple computers since the late 1980′s. With such candid interviews and thorough research gleaned directly from the source by Isaacson, I found a lot of interesting parallels in my own life experiences as both a creative person and one that works a lot with technology every day.

As we all know, the influence of iTunes on the music industry has made a huge impact on the way we purchase and listen to music. When iTunes was being conceived, there was a lot of file sharing and content piracy going on with Napster and many of their counterparts. That situation is not unlike the growing problem of online intellectual property theft going on in and out of the graphic design industry as well.

As I read about the problem at Apple and the delicate ethics and issues surrounding music and intellectual property, I thought I would share this excerpt:

At this point Jobs could have decided simply to indulge piracy. Free music meant more valuable iPods. Yet because he really like music, and the artists who made it, he was opposed to what he saw as the theft of creative products. As he later told me:

From the earliest days at Apple, I realized that we thrived when we created intellectual property. If people copied or stole our software, we’d be out of business. If it weren’t protected, there’d be no incentive for us to make new software or product designs. If protection of intellectual property begins to disappear, creative companies will disappear or never get started. But there’s a simpler reason: It’s wrong to steal. It hurts other people. And it hurts your character.

Well said, Steve. I hope others starting out in the creative field will read that and let it really sink in.

Now, it’s no secret that Steve Jobs was an often ruthless business man. But, after reading this memoir I found him just as passionate about creating great products and often deciding to take the high road to set the right business tone. They were as he put it, at the crossing of humanities and technology.

It’s not often you hear of a CEO at a major company like Apple making this sort of decision on something like others’ intellectual property. And if you decide to read the book yourself, you will realize why. Often times, paybacks can be a b*tch.

The book is not small (571 pages), but I found it read pretty fast with lots of interesting tidbits about the ‘hows and whys’ of the technology industry and its history. Even if you’re not that into Apple, it’s definitely worth the read.

I know we cannot completely stamp out copyright infringement and plagiarism, but we can try and make the casual infringer aware of the damage they are doing by downloading others’ work and using it without permission.

Let’s stick together as a strong design community and continue to look out for each other.

So, how can you protect yourself from your own image pilfering?

• Keep track of your images. Have a naming convention that you can easily keep going and where they were posted.
• Use metadata in your images. Include metadata, creation and copyright data information when saving in Photoshop or Adobe Bridge.
• File for copyrights on your images. You can file for copyrights in groups of images, too and save some money.
• Be careful where you post your work. Only submit to sites that you know or trust.
• Be a good neighbor. If you see a familiar image that looks overly inspired, contact the original designer if you know who it is. If not, Tweet it.
• Scan the image servers. Use Google Reverse Image Search or Tineye.com to see if anyone’s using your work.
• Cease & Desist letters – Get a copy of a DMCA form and have it ready if you need to send it.
• Consider digital tracking software. Services like Digimarc can label, watermark and track your digital library.
• Turn off image links on your website. Although not a big solution, it can certainly deter the casual infringer.
• Label your work. Let the pilferer know that they are borrowing your work should it end up beyond your reach.

And hey, let’s be careful out there.