Grade 11 • Unit E.5: Extension & Enrichment (Optional) • Lesson 26 of 44 • 2 Days

Illustrator Deep-Dive: Building a Vector Icon Set

🗓️ Before Class: Teacher Prep

🖥️ Slide Deck (project or share with students)

Short, on-the-board pacing slides for today's Do Now, agenda, vocabulary, and exit ticket -- the full detail lives in the handout above, not here.

🧑‍🏫 Substitute Teacher Guide

A scripted, step-by-step runsheet for today's class -- hand this to anyone covering the room who doesn't know the daily routine.

🎯 Essential Question

📈 Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson (2 Days), students will be able to:

  1. Use the pen and shape tools to build 3-5 related vector icons.
  2. Maintain visual consistency (stroke weight, corner style, grid) across the set.
  3. Export the icon set in an appropriate file format.

📐 Standards Alignment

CDOS (Career Development & Occupational Studies)

ACP (Adobe Certified Professional) Photoshop Exam Objectives

📚 Key Vocabulary

Icon Set
A group of icons designed to look like they belong together, sharing a consistent visual style.
Stroke Weight
The thickness of a line in a vector drawing, which should stay consistent across a matching set.

🧰 Materials & Tools

🧠 Do Now (Warm-Up)

Look at the icons on your phone's home screen. What makes them look like they belong to the same "family"?

📋 Main Workshop / Lesson Sequence

This lesson spans 2 Days. Suggested pacing:

DayFocusPlan
Day 1Establishing a StyleDo Now (5 min, above). Mini-lesson/demo (12 min): building a consistent icon style (stroke weight, corner radius, grid). Guided practice (20 min): build one icon together as a class. Independent build, part 1 (8 min): start a second icon in the same style.
Day 2Completing the SetDo Now (5 min). Independent build, part 2 (30 min): complete 3-5 related icons, maintaining consistency across the set. Export & share (10 min).

✅ Assessment & Exit Ticket

Icon set scored with a rubric: 3-5 icons, consistent stroke weight and style, clean vector construction.

Exit Ticket: What is one specific choice you made to keep your icons feeling consistent as a set?

📊 Pull up the anonymous Class Check-In for students to fill out before they go.

🧩 Differentiation & Accommodations

English Language Learners: model every step live, then check in one-on-one; provide translated materials and vocabulary support as needed. Students with IEPs: apply the accommodations and modifications listed in each student's plan (examples include extended time, graphic organizers, speech-to-text tools, chunked instructions, and visual schedules). Students with attention-related needs: break tasks into short, checklist-driven steps and provide brief movement or focus breaks. Students ready for a challenge: take on a leadership role critiquing peers' work, extend the project with a second iteration, or research how today's skill is used professionally in the field.

🔗 Resources & References