In this blog post we talk about how our icons are made.
Before we get started, here's a little bit of background about Danu:
My name is Dhanish Ali aka Danu. I'm 19 years old, from Chennai, India. I'm a Graphic Designer, I do minimal designs and Digital Marketing SEO. I also love to interact with people online, for advice, regular conversations, inspiration, or even opportunities to collaborate. The future of my career will hopefully be to work independently from a group to make fully functioning Branding for large businesses and industry leaders!📙
Let's jump right into our AMA.
AMA Host: Hey Danu, how's it going? Before we get started, could you tell us how you got into graphic design?
Danu: I got into graphic design in 8th grade like I just started use Corel draw like a ms paint, after i got inspired by my uncle and father i think designing is one of best thing to choice as my career.
AMA Host: What software do you use?
Danu: I use five software's, Adobe Illustrator, Indesign, Photoshop and mostly Corel Draw and sometime figma.
AMA Host: What advice do you have for people getting into graphic design?
Danu: Study. Design is hard and it takes years and years of practice to be good. There is nothing more common than a bad graphic designer. My advice would be to go to a school if you can. If you can’t then beg borrow and get every book, online courses, videos etc. and learn.
AMA Host: Why make emotes?
Danu: As a designer, seeing people use emotes from different genres, categories, and colors, was extremely triggering. I knew that people would gravitate towards using an icon set that had the same colors, depth, shape, etc. I also knew that I could create a really just that!
AMA Host: Why Discord?
Danu: I use Discord because it has stood out to far more than any other platform. I love it because it gives me the opportunity to interact with people who enjoy the things that I enjoy; topics like moderation, design, community, and more. There are also so many opportunities to gain experience myself by interacting with people from all levels of skill and experience.
AMA Host: What's the market for paid emotes like?
Danu: I can clearly see the paid emote market fluctuating and evolving over time actually. For example, Discord's newest update which included role icons, drove people to seek out more custom chibi-style emojis as apposed to clean-cut minimalistic icons.
AMA Host: Have you experienced art theft? How do you handle it?
Danu: Art theft on Discord & online in general is really prominent. When I can, I reach out to people who have stolen my work, and some of them are completely understanding and remove whatever they stole, but others don't respond or don't listen, in which case I file a DMCA report. Sometimes I even end up making a commission with people who stole work who didn't intend to, and they get to enjoy my art with the proper documentation!
Thanks for joining us on this AMA, that's a wrap. See you next time!
Interested in having an AMA with us? Visit this page for more information. Please note that we give preference to users with a background in design or marketing.