Okay, now what should I bring...

My goal for this project was simple: to create an icon set of my travel packing list.

At the time, I was gearing up for a flight to Europe and I wanted a fun and reusable check list for all future adventures.

Sketches

It was important to me from the beginning that I strike a balance between playfulness and uniformity. Look, if I'm using this list for every trip, I want it to be fun.

I started with a consistent icon grid to make these feel like a cohesive set, and worked to contrast thin outlines with bold black geometric shapes. When something a little fresh was needed, I brought in some "confetti" sparkle elements to compensate for icons with abundant negative space.

Iteration

There were a lot of small decisions along the way to simplify and make bolder. A few of my earlier versions were dependent on the outline; ultimately I used toned down those strokes and relied on more solid fills to create easily-read forms. 

Execution

After deciding on my basic forms it was down to the details. How could I consolidate stroke weights and curves? Where could I reduce and simplify so that they held up even at fairly small sizes? 

A lot of this came down to designing clear silhouettes and finding the right perspectives for each object.

In terms of use, I print these out in a fairly large size for my personal checklist. 
That way, I can always color them in if I need another excuse to procrastinate from packing.