So I was messing around with this project the other day, and I needed some nice-looking icons. Specifically, I wanted something for a “trivia” feature. I figured, “Hey, I can probably whip something up myself!” So I started by, you know, just thinking about what represents trivia. My first thought was like, a question mark, pretty obvious, right?
Brainstorming and Sketching
I grabbed a piece of paper and started sketching. I drew some simple question marks, some with circles around them, some thicker, some thinner. Nothing felt quite right. It was all a bit…boring. Then I thought, maybe a lightbulb? Because, you know, trivia is about knowledge, and lightbulbs symbolize ideas.
- Question Mark: Too basic.
- Lightbulb: Better, but still a bit cliche.
- Combination?: I could use the Question mark into the lightbulb.
I sketched a few lightbulbs, some cartoony, some more realistic. Still not hitting the mark. I even tried combining a question mark inside a lightbulb, but it looked messy and confusing.
Trying some software.
Okay, so sketching wasn’t getting me anywhere. I decided to fire up that old graphic software. I have used it before, a long time ago, but remember some basic things. Started with a basic question mark shape. Played around with the colors, gradients, and shadows. Nope, still bland.
Then I switched to the lightbulb idea. I created a simple bulb shape, added a glowing effect, and even tried to make it look like it was shining. It was looking slightly better, but it still wasn’t screaming “trivia” to me.
The “Aha!” Moment
Then it hit me. What about a speech bubble, but instead of words, it has a question mark inside? That seemed, simple, and a bit more unique. Because trivia is about asking questions, right? And speech bubbles are used to conversation.
Back on software, I drew a simple speech bubble outline. I add the question mark and the middle, simple lines. Then, I tried to made the question mark bold and centered it, boom, it was simple and looked good.
Final Tweaks
I played around with the colors a bit. I tried different shades of blue and orange, finally settling on a nice, bright blue for the bubble and a white for the question mark. It was clear, eye-catching, and finally felt like a good representation of “trivia”.
So, there you have it. That’s how I ended up with my trivia icon. It wasn’t a straight line from start to finish, but that’s how these things usually go, at least for me. Lots of sketching, experimenting, and a little bit of luck!
