When City Year’s brand style evolved to include a new icon style (outlines, rather than solid shapes), we wanted custom icons to depict our AmeriCorps members and our unique service. I researched and experimented to learn to create consistent, quality icons, and I developed a foundational set of City Year-specific icons that pair well with other icons we create or source online. I have continued to iterate on these originals to showcase diversity and, most recently, virtual and COVID-safe service. 

Soon after developing the initial icon set, we realized there was a strong desire to be able to represent the corps graphically in a way that fell between a simplified, universal icon and a detailed illustration. The corps' presence, diversity, and talent is central to City Year, and across the organization, people were wishing for more of the corps’ essence to come through in graphic visuals. To that end, I developed illustration sets of City Year AmeriCorps members, beginning with paperdoll-like bodies with a variety of hairstyles. As time went on and we saw more use cases for these custom illustrations, I later developed more distinct bodies, and all bodies and hairstyles can be mixed and matched if desired.