I like creating fun, detailed, illustrative icons for my presentation slides. I have uploaded some here and plan to update this page as I prepare for other presentations in the future. You can right-click to copy or save the images.

Feel free to use or modify my icons. Please just link to me somewhere in your slides or paper!

If you have Keynote, you can download the full set of icons to modify them more easily. All icons here were made with Keynote tools.

Some tips for making your own visuals:
  • Default to using the rounded rectangle shape. You can adjust the corners to be pointy, but you cannot go the opposite way with the regular rectangle.
  • Default to using very skinny rectangles instead of lines. They scale better when resizing since lines will keep their thicknesses and end up looking out of proportion at much larger or smaller sizes.
  • Use a consistent color scheme. The eyedropper tool and coolors.co are your friends. I like to have a slide with colored squares and hex codes for easy copy-paste (it can be hidden or deleted later).
  • Pay attention to alignment. Take advantage of the "snap to grid" feature more often than not. Having consistently sized items and consistent amounts of spaces between them streamlines the appearance of a slide a lot.
  • Click and drag a shape while holding "option" to duplicate it. Hold "shift" while resizing to maintain original proportions. Hold "command" while moving or resizing to deactivate "snap to grid" (useful for very super tiny changes). Hold "command" *before* resizing to rotate instead. Hold "command" *and* "shift" while rotating to snap to increments (useful for consistency).
  • Select multiple objects, right-click, and "group" them to treat them as one item. Useful for building icons with lots of parts.
  • Play around with selecting two items and "subtracting" them (in the "arrange" panel on the right) to make custom shapes and cutouts.
  • Play around with laying semi-transparent shapes on top of other items (creates the "fuzzy" effect for de-emphasizing something). Make sure the semi-transparent shape is on top (right-click and "bring to front" or use the "arrange" panel). To simulate a fade-out, go to the colors menu and select "advanged gradient fill."
  • Instead of going dizzy trying to manage a bunch of slide transitions, duplicate slides and move/delete/add items. This does come with the disadvantage of inflating the number of slides you have, so you can consider making a "printer-friendly" version if applicable.
  • The one exception: Magic Move.
4th gen Alexa Echo Dot with activation light on bottom. Alexa Echo Dot: 4th gen Alexa Echo Dot with activation light on bottom.
Black AR/VR goggles with shiny accents. Shiny AR/VR goggles: Black AR/VR goggles with shiny accents.
Closed red book with shiny gold atom on the cover. Science book: Closed red book with shiny gold atom on the cover.
Gray message and response in chat interface. Gray chat: Gray message and response in chat interface.
Light brown clipboard with light gray clip and medical document. Clipboard with medical document: Light brown clipboard with light gray clip and medical document.
Mini code snippet on dark background. Mini code snippet: Mini code snippet on dark background.
Page of contract with signature line and flag. Contract: Page of contract with signature line and flag.
Blue diagram with connecting lines. Diagram: Blue diagram with connecting lines.
Bar graph with six vertical bars of varying heights and colors. Bar graph: Bar graph with six vertical bars of varying heights and colors.
Line graph with two lines mimicking loss/accuracy curves. Line graph: Line graph with two lines mimicking loss/accuracy curves.
Open hand with motion lines indicating swipe to the right. Hand swipe: Open hand with motion lines indicating swipe to the right.
World map with green-blue gradient. World map: World map with green-blue gradient.
Folded front page of newspaper. Newspaper: Folded front page of newspaper.
Paper scrolled to show graphs and text. Paper with graphs: Paper scrolled to show graphs and text.
Paper torn in half horizontally to indicate fragmentation. Split paper: Paper torn in half horizontally to indicate fragmentation.
Paragraph with several lines of text on an index card. Paragraph: Paragraph with several lines of text on an index card.
Paragraph with many lines of text. Long paragraph: Paragraph with many lines of text.
Paragraph with few lines of text. Short paragraph: Paragraph with few lines of text.
Paragraph with few lines of text. Short paragraph 1: Paragraph with few lines of text.
Paragraph with few lines of text. Short paragraph 2: Paragraph with few lines of text.
Paragraph with few lines of text. Short paragraph 3: Paragraph with few lines of text.
Paragraph with very few lines of text. Tiny paragraph: Paragraph with very few lines of text.
Paragraph with very few lines of text. Tiny paragraph 2: Paragraph with very few lines of text.
Simplified silhouette of a person with a circular head and round shoulders. Person (gray): Simplified silhouette of a person with a circular head and round shoulders.
Landscape photo with hills and sun, inspired by old Windows default wallpaper. Landscape photo: Landscape photo with hills and sun, inspired by old Windows default wallpaper.
List of search result links, inspired by Google. Search engine results: List of search result links, inspired by Google.
Bookstyle table with header row and several columns. Table: Bookstyle table with header row and several columns.
X-ray image of a human torso. X-ray: X-ray image of a human torso.
Red icon with white play button to represent YouTube logo. YouTube logo: Red icon with white play button to represent YouTube logo.