International Foodicons Challenge
Announcing the international Foodicons Challenge.
Beginning in December 2020, Adobe, The Lexicon, Noun Project, and AIGA will host a series of five monthly challenges for designers to develop a shared, open-source, and royalty-free iconographic language of food to be unveiled at the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit.
How it works
The Foodicons Challenge will develop a cooperatively-built visual language for over 500 core concepts to explain our food system. Final selections will be publicly released at the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021, then posted permanently on The Noun Project as a free resource for all to use.
By entering, all entrants ( designers ) retain ownership of their work, whether used or not in the final set of icons. Additionally, entrants whose icons are accepted into the final icon family, posted to The Noun Project, grant a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide right Foodicons.org and those who download the icons from The Noun Project to edit, adapt, modify, reproduce, promote, publish, and otherwise use the entrant’s submission and/or its contents in any way and in any media for educational, promotional, and/or any other purposes ( including commercial uses ), under the Creative Commons 4.0 BY license, without having to seek permission from, and without consideration or notification to any participant or any third party. Entrants also agree that the entry may, at Foodicons.org‘s sole discretion, be posted online at the contest website and/or any other website as determined by Foodicons.org, for visitors to the website( s ) to view, download, and use as they see fit.
The icon set will provide food system professionals with an effective way to communicate with colleagues, organizations, and the public. The goal is to not only to provide people with greater food literacy, but also make the food system more transparent.
Using a style guide specifically developed for the challenge, designers worldwide are invited to submit icon designs for hundreds of terms selected by the Foodicon’s international committee of food experts. The icons will depict everything from basic elements like water, rice, and gluten, to more complex concepts like no-till farming, plant-forward diets, and appropriate technology.
Style Guidelines
Many people are doing incredible work globally to improve various food systems, but too many of those are siloed within specialized frameworks.
The Foodicons Challenge is a crowdsourced competition to collaboratively design an extensive system of open-sourced icons of critical food terms and concepts that can be used globally by professionals and consumers alike.
All artists participating in the Foodicons Challenge will retain ownership of their work, whether used or not in the final set of icons. Additionally, entrants whose icons are accepted into the final icon family will agree to grant the royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide right for their work to be shared under a CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons License. Learn more about CC BY 4.0. Read our full eligibility and submission requirements.
Resources
Everything you’ll need, from templates to important metaphors, and more, to successfully create a Foodicon design.
Icon Template
Foodicon_1Icon_1px_grid.ai
Library
FoodIcon_Library_v1_1_0.ai
Design
Foodicons use an outline icon style, also commonly called linear icons. This style is clean, modern and simple to create.
The elements use monochromatic lines that can have subtle empty spaces, separating different sections of the composition. This icon style uses unique hexagon shapes, which highlights the icon’s identity and represent different meanings. These different hexagon styles help to give the design system more flexibility, while maintaining a unified look and feel.
While simple, the style is effective, and when used in smaller sizes and can easily be put into clusters that enable storytelling in relation to food systems.
Canvas: 100px
Please follow the Icon Template .Ai file
Grid
The grid simply specifies directions on how and where to place inner elements. Use the grid system during the design process to place the elements inside the hexagon.
Basic Steps
Select Term
Designers sign-up for specific terms around food systems.
Sketch
Do some research and start sketching.
Common Shapes
Review existing metaphors in the Library, and use them for inspiration or within your designs.
Select Hexagon Style
There are 7 hexagons with different meanings, choose the appropriate one for your food term.
Create Inner Element
Do not apply more than 2 or 3 elements.
Share for Review
Share your work for the first feedback round and await response from the food experts.
Hexagon Styles
The Foodicon design has unique hexagon shapes to represent different meanings. The different styles help to give the design system more flexibility while maintaining a coherent look and feel.
Please do not modify the default hexagons presented in this guideline. If your food term requires a different meaning and hexagon shape, submit that with your icon proposal.
