Sketching

We had to choose at least three animals from a handful of categories; I chose mammals, flightless birds, and wading birds for nine total. I compiled reference images and began sketching to understand the forms and shapes of every animal before simplifying them into their symbols.

Symbols

After simplifying the animals, I started to create them digitally. Every animal took on different iterations until every symbol maintained some form of consistency. Every symbol opens to the outside and contains an open interior.

Applications

Then, I integrated a few symbols into letter forms with a focus on negative space. The “B” on the left refers to the word bird, for the Weka. The “M” is for mammal, referring to the oryx.

The final part of the project was making a poster utilizing my symbol. I had various ideas, such as a focus on endangered birds, safari, and more. I chose to focus on mammals. Due to the open interior of my symbols, I couldn’t overlap them, so I used size and placement to convey space. Also, the bottom contains every symbol and information relevant to that animal.