Building an icon library of ten thousand assets

Alongside the editorial figures, part of my role at Medscape Education has been leading an icon library that now runs to more than ten thousand assets. Icons are the least glamorous part of medical illustration and probably the most used, which is exactly why they deserve the attention.

Rules before drawings

A library at this size only holds together if the rules are set before the drawing starts: stroke weight, corner treatment, and how much anatomy is allowed in a mark before it stops being an icon. Once those are fixed, new icons can be made in house or by external freelancers and still look like they belong.

Working with freelancers

Managing external freelancers is part of the job. Good briefs, a clear style reference and honest feedback get better results than any amount of correction after the fact.

The slide illustration shown here is from the same body of work. The flat style, limited palette and simple shapes are the same decisions the icon library runs on, applied at a larger size.

The same period has included artwork shown at the ECMO and ASCO conferences, work with theHeart.org, and directing a 3D heart model with a Master’s student from the University of Dundee.