There are many familiar icons used to represent waiting or being busy, such as the spinning beach ball on Mac or the loading circle on Windows. This project explores an alternative visual metaphor for “wait.”

Designed on a 32 × 32 pixel grid using only black and white, the icon needed to be simple, recognizable, and easily understood across different audiences. I began by developing 18 unique concepts, exploring different ways to visually communicate the idea of waiting. The final concept uses a book with flipping pages to symbolize waiting as an ongoing process of learning and thinking.