Low-Res Icon Rendering
The goal of this project was to create a minimalist low-resolution icon of my own face. This is a good practice for creating small simple icons for any kind of user interface. I was limited to using 5 achromatic tones on a 16x16 square grid.
While software exists to easily achieve a similar effect, automation loses some benefits of arranging it by hand. Certain shapes and details necessary for clarity are lost in translation; the program tries to maintain complexity while drastically limiting the resolution. When automated, the end result, while being technically more accurate, is in fact less effective at simplifying the visual information while faithfully retaining the impression of the original image. Arranging it by hand grants the ability to accentuate key characteristics that make it easily recognizable.
Original
Mosaic
Posturize
Hand-Picked
Creating the arrangement by hand involved dividing the original photo into a gird and visually averaging the shade of each square using a given set of shades. Then small adjustments were made in areas where characteristic details were important accentuate.
The process for actually reaching the final result involved iteration of multiple attempts with variations in framing. Contrast and light/dark levels also strongly affected the end result, and I had to go back and make adjustments to the original photo more than once.
