Leighton Hubbell - Illustrative Designer

I was contacted by Tarsadia Hotels, owners of the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego to design a set of informational icons for their in-room phone system. It seems straight-forward enough, just create a little icon so somebody can get an extra set of towels, right? Well, fortunately they said they wanted them to be unique, even edgy and they had to carry out the Hard Rock branding. You know, rock n roll.

I love music and I certainly love to keep up on rock history. So, I got out my sketch book and started doodling right away. At first, I was working out the arrow type stuff, etc. and that was fine, but it wasn't rock n roll enough. I also had to keep in mind that the final size would be very small, and in black and white or one color.

As we went through the thumbnails, I had visions of brown M & M's, rocker chicks, big hair and platform boots. Just how do communicate DLR leather chaps in 7 x 13 mm? Well, as it turned out they loved the ringing skull and the room service 'guitar spoon' icons especially. And you gotta have the '62 Caddy, for sure. And, they did translate well when shrunk down to size.

From the outset, this project seemed like it could have been a basic icon set. Every once in awhile you get an opportunity to bring it to the next level. Hopefully, to eleven.