Wisdom

I created this icon as part of the sermon artwork for the current series at SOMA Culver City (with Art Direction by Jared Brient).
I spent a good deal of time thinking through how to design an icon to symbolize wisdom in a clear but subtle way. Jared also challenged me to avoid the more common cliche symbols associated with wisdom (owls, glasses, beards, etc.).
Looking for inspiration was difficult because virtually everything I found either used an owl, a beard, or was abstract and unrelated. I finally decided I needed to find a different way of thinking about wisdom; a different perspective on its definition. I started researching anecdotal descriptions of wisdom, but these were almost helpful.
Finally, two days before my deadline, I found some clear inspiration in an unlikely place: Spotify. I was listening to Spotify radio and a song came on that I didn't recognize so I checked the artist: The Head and the Heart. "Now there's an anecdotal description for wisdom!" I thought. From there it was just down to execution of the idea, which took about an hour and it was off to Jared for review. We had already finalized the typography, and he approved the icon right away! Deadline met!