The Noun Project is a website that aggregates and catalogs symbols that are created and uploaded by graphic designers around the world. Based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, the project functions both as a resource for people in search of typographic symbols and a design history of the genre.

History

The Noun Project was co-founded by Sofya Polyakov, Edward Boatman, and Scott Thomas and is headed by Polyakov. Boatman recalled his frustration while working at an architectural firm at the lack of a central repository for common icons, "things such as airplanes, bicycles and people." That idea morphed into a broader platform for visual communication. The site was launched on Kickstarter in December 2010, which raised more than $14,000 in donations, with symbols from the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

and other sources whose content was in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

. Site design was by the firm Simple.Honest.Work, with mentoring from the Designer Fund. The Noun Project has generated interest and new symbols by hosting a series of "Iconathons", the first of which was held in the summer of 2011. The sessions typically run five hours and include graphic designers, content experts, and interested volunteers, all working in small groups that focus on a specific issue, such as democracy, transportation or nutrition. The idea for the event came from Chacha Sikes, who was at the time a fellow at

Code for America Code for America is a non-partisan, non-political 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2009 to address the widening gap between the public and private sectors in their effective use of technology and design. According to its website, the organiza ...

Operation

Contributors come from around the world. A 2012 ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' story profiled one of them: Luis Prado, a graphic designer at the

Washington State Department of Natural Resources The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manages over of forest, range, agricultural, and commercial lands in the U.S. state of Washington. The DNR also manages of aquatic areas which include shorelines, tidelands, lands un ...

, who uploaded 83 icons he had created for his agency, including a pruning saw, a logging truck and a candidate symbol for

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

, which he created when he could not find one online. The site has four stylistic guidelines: include only the essential characteristics of the idea conveyed, maintain a consistent design style, favor an industrial look over a hand-drawn one, and avoid conveying personal opinions, feelings and beliefs. Contributors select a public domain mark or a Creative Commons attribution license, which enables others to use the symbol with attribution, free of charge. The attribution requirement can be waived upon payment of a nominal fee, which is split between the artist and The Noun Project. The founders envisioned the site as being primarily useful for designers and architects, but the range of users includes people with autism and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, who sometimes favor a visual language, as well as business professionals incorporating the symbols into presentations.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noun Project American companies established in 2010 Graphic design Kickstarter-funded software Symbols Companies based in Los Angeles 2010 establishments in California