Influential precursor projects, products, research, installations, performances and/or other influencers within which my thesis project sits.

• Describe each project specifically, include images
• Explain how your thesis project has been inspired/informed by each 
• Explain how your project will build on each 
• Explain how your project will be different from each

The Noun Project

“Noun Project.” The Noun Project, thenounproject.com/.

The Noun Project is a website that aggregates and catalogs pictograms created and uploaded by graphic designers around the world, with the largest dataset. My project will base on its API, because I found their library most diverse yet has simplest forms. The website uses search by tag, and that is something I'll try to make difference. Link to related thread: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-icon-library

Modern Pictograms for Lottie

“Modern Pictograms for Lottie.” Airbnb Design, airbnb.design/modern-pictograms-for-lottie/.

Salih Abdul-Karim, a motion designer at Airbnb, experiments various ways to create animation friendly icons -- or “artworks”, according to his description. He gives an idea what are the basic components of an icon, and further, what does the Noun Project's community aims to be, which is a collaboration between different people and overlapping practices. My project will be irrelevant from animating icon, but the article is inspiring in a way that it brings up the nature of the Noun Project's community.

Brandmark Logo Maker

“Brandmark - the Smart Logo Maker.” Brandmark Logo Maker - the Most Advanced AI Logo Design Tool, brandmark.io/intro/.

Brandmark uses deep learning tools to generate logos composed of an icon, typography and color scheme. It uses a convolutional net to filter out common symbols and shapes that are not "brandable", by giving legibility score and uniqueness score. Technically, it's exactly what I attempt to achieve -- except that I have different approach on sorting icons, as I'm not interested in making a single icon standing out as a unique logo.