Sew Sweet - An Icon Set
Less is more, stitch by stitch.
Tasked with making an icon set that felt like me, I wanted to hone in on what I loved and what brings me joy.
I’ve always loved the ‘grandma’ vibe — anything vintage, handmade, and a little worn. It holds a kind of charm that feels warm and inviting. At the same time, there’s an inside joke between me and my husband where we call fruit “fwoot.” As silly as it sounds, it’s something small that brings a lot of joy.
This project became a way to combine that simple joy with a homey, nostalgic aesthetic — turning everyday fruit into patches that feel stitched onto a handmade quilt.
Project Requirements
- A set of 6 icons
- All original work made by me
- The icons must all be cohesive to each other
Sketches
Going through the sketching process, I knew I wanted to have the patchwork designs within my fruits. It became obvious that was the direction I wanted to head, so I drew fruits as differently as I could, just to see if I wanted them whole, halfed, or sliced with a pattern inside.
Drafts
Feedback
- Designs were too busy
- Every icon had green except one
- Designs were too small
- More difference between the lemon and orange
- All of the leaves were facing the same way, and I should change the direction that they are headed
So, what next?
My original designs were too much, too busy. I wanted to tone down my designs but still give that homey, vintage feel. The designs that felt too much were the orange, lemon, apple, and strawberry. I opted to change them.
More Feedback = More Changes
Another piece of feedback I recieved was that all of my designs had green, except one. I wanted to incorporate the green color and design for all of my icons. I chose to add two different leaves to the blueberry.
One piece of feedback I recieved was to give more variation to the leaves, making sure that they weren’t all the same in direction, since they were all the same in design.
For the majority, I wanted to keep the original shape of the fruits with the updated design inside. I made some changes with the leaves and stems, but overall, not too much changed. I opted to have the apple and pear as halfs, the orange as a slice, and the lemon as a whole to differentiate as much as possible, both in hue, design of the patterns, and shape.
The Final Designs
To me, the design feels homey, like they were patches on a quilt that someone handmade. Each fruit feels unique, but each choice feels intentional. Stitch by stitch, I was able to piece together an icon set that is sew sweet.