Justworks - Work Fearlessly
Justworks hired me to work closely with their product design team and create a custom icon set. The core values in this project brief were to create an icon set that evokes happiness, joy and inclusion. A dream project with a true dream team!
HOW to represent userS
When representing users, we really wanted to focus on inclusion and make sure we avoided using any stereotypes, which a lot of the time, have been seen to be the default for user avatars. The icons I needed to design were, individual, individual and spouse, individual and children, and finally, family. Firstly we knew that we didn't want to fall into any gender/family stereotypes while also keeping away from being race specific. Secondly, whatever element we used in this icon, it needed to be visually simple enough that we could create a family option without it becoming too complex for a single icon. I came up with two concepts, one being weather themed and the other using birds. We opted towards using birds for these icons as they seemed visually simple and versatile enough to make a legible icon and at the same time tick all of our inclusion boxes which would help the product experience feel welcoming to all of the Justworks users.
ConSISTENCY with RELATED visualS
Sprinkling joy
Justworks helps startups and small companies with benefits, payroll and HR stuff. Now, we can all agree that's a pretty dry subject. So we decided that this icon set would be a great way to add a fun personality across their mobile and web app without compromising usability. Myself and the designers on the Justworks team loved adding fun faces to some of the icons. It's just the right amount of happy in amongst your more traditional user interface icons.
