Episode Summary

What happens when you give a world-class icon designer a dream brief with almost no boundaries? A brief existential crisis, and eventually a beautiful type-inspired icon packs for Font Awesome 7. 😅

In this episode, Matt and Jory chat with icon designer Laura Bohill about the making of Chisel — the wonderfully chunky icon pack she designed for Font Awesome 7. They get into the weird magic of creative constraints, why icon design is really just tiny-illustration puzzle solving, and how type, branding, and metaphor all shape great icon systems.

They also talk about freelance life, protecting your creative brain, why not every design problem should follow you into your evenings, and how sometimes the best ideas show up only after you’ve stepped away from the screen. It’s thoughtful, funny, nerdy, and full of delightful icon design rabbit trails. 

What We Cover in This Episode

•  ✨ How Laura went from “dream project” to “I am spiritually untethered” 
•  ✏️ How a book cover typeface sparked the visual idea behind the Chisel icon pack 
•  🧩 Why icon design is basically a never-ending series of tiny, beautiful puzzles 
•  🧠 Why creative boundaries and time away from work matter more than hustle culture admits 
•  🖼️ How Laura balances clarity vs. creativity in icon design systems 
•  🏰 Why designing icons for Historic England meant trading “upload” icons for castles and country houses 
•  🛠️ Laura’s journey from Illustrator to Figma, with a little help from Noah 
•  🌍 Why icon designers might secretly be some of the most-seen artists on the internet 

Timestamps

00:00 — Dream project meets existential crisis
00:04:00 — How an open-ended brief led to Chisel’s distinctive style
00:09:30 — Why Laura doesn’t usually do self-directed design projects
00:12:00 — How she found icon design through illustration and freelance work
00:16:00 — Freelance life, boundaries, and protecting creative energy
00:20:00 — How type design influences icon systems
00:30:00 — Why icon design is really a puzzle-solving practice
00:36:00 — Balancing clarity and creativity in icon systems
00:40:30 — Historic England, castles, and designing beyond typical UI icons
00:45:00 — Laura’s Figma origin story and Noah’s helpful onboarding
00:48:00 — Why icon designers are quietly famous
00:50:00 — Find Laura online and final thoughts

Links & Resources

• Laura Bohill / Laura Bee
  Find Laura Laura Bee online 😄 
• Font Awesome 7
  Explore Font Awesome 7 and its small batch icon packs, including Chisel
• Chisel icon pack
  Laura’s custom icon pack for Font Awesome 7, inspired by stroke contrast in typography 
• YouTube version of this episode
  Watch the visual demo version to see the Chisel icons on screen while the team talks through the design 
• Figma
  Making the leap from Illustrator to Figma
• Historic England
  Laura’s recent icon system project featuring castles, parks, and places of worship

Credits
Hosted by Matt Johnson
Featuring: Laura Bohill, and Jory Raphael
Produced and edited by Matt Johnson
Theme song: Ronnie Martin
Music interstitials:  Zach Malm
Additional video editing: Isaac Chase

Stay up to date on all the Font Awesomeness!