Building a Custom Cat-Themed Icon Set

A COMM 150 Visual Media project

Project Overview

In my COMM 150 Visual Media class, I was asked to design a custom icon set of five icons that work well together. Since I had just started learning Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, this project became my first big opportunity to explore professional design tools and build a themed set from scratch. This case study walks through the steps I took from rough sketches and color choices to drafts, feedback, and the final icon set.

Tools & Starting Point

Adobe Illustrator

I used Adobe Illustrator to build the final icons with clean shapes, paths, and colors.

Adobe Photoshop

I used Adobe Photoshop to prepare files, adjust graphics, and export my icons for the web.

Canva Experience

Before this project, the only design software I really knew was Canva, which is very template-based and drag-and-drop.

Sketches & Idea Exploration

For the sketching phase, we had to create at least three variations for each icon. At first, I wasn’t sure what theme to pick, so I looked online for inspiration and tried out a bunch of ideas. Because I love cats, I finally decided to go with a cat theme. I sketched different cat faces, cat towers, paws, toys, and other cat-related ideas until I found a direction that felt fun and consistent.

Sketches I went with

From all of my original ideas, these are the sketches I decided to move forward with. These sketches felt the most consistent, clear, and fun and they became the foundation of my final icon designs.

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Color Palette

Before I moved into Adobe Illustrator, I chose a color palette for my icons. I wanted to pick colors that would really make my icons pop and also show the playful side of cats.

First Icon Draft

Out of all my initial ideas, these were the sketches that stood out the most. They felt clear, fun, and consistent with the cat theme I wanted to build. These became the base for my final icon drafts.

Final Icon Set