Kendra Schaefer

In this final part of our 3-Part environmental icon / logo tutorial, we’ll be learning how to add a 3D world map vector to our graphic, plus adding some light effects to finish it off.

If you haven’t done so already, click here to download the world map vector silhouette that we’ll be using, or find your own World Map vector online.

Once you’ve downloaded that vector, the next step is to import it onto your Inkscape artboard. To do this, go to File > Import, select your world map vector, and bring it onto your artboard.
Place your map over the top of your leaf and button logo, and resize it to a realistic size:

Make a copy of your original button circle (select your circle and Ctrl + D to copy) and place the copy over the top of your map (I’ve made mine red so it can be easily seen). Select both the circle and the map (hold Shift while using selection tool to click both of them). Now go to Object > Clip > Set. These are my before and after results:

Color & Position the World Map

The current build of Inkscape doesn’t “bulge” vector objects very well, so instead of apply a bulging effect to this map to make it appear a little rounded, we’re going to achieve a similar effect by adding a gradient.

With your map selected, apply a two-stop radial gradient with the central color being pure white, fading to light gray at the edges. My gradient stops and gradient positioning below:

Now, with your selection tool, select your map, and use the Lower function in the Objects menu to move the map behind the leaf group and the top glossy glow on your aqua gloss button. Alternately, you can select the map and then keep pressing Pg Dn on your keyboard until the map is in the desired position.

And there’s your icon. Whew! If you’re satisfied at this point, you can simply save and be done. If you’d like to add a couple of extras, read on to learn how to create a light drop shadow to the bottom of the icon, and water beads on the leaf.

Drop Shadow

This bit, at least, is quite simple. Below your globe, draw a dark gray oval. Then, with your new oval selected, set the blur to 14.8 and the opacity to 23.0.

That’s it for the drop shadow.

Making a Water Droplet

I chose to put one drop of water on my leaf for this tutorial, but you can add as many as you like. The droplet consists of three parts: an oval with an aqua gradient on it to which I applied the tweak tool to give it a blobby look, a tiny white to transparent radial gradient to give it shine (like we did in the leaf tutorial), and a drop shadow that’s EXTREMELY light. You can barely see the drop shadow in my zoom here, but it does add a tiny touch of shading that the human eye will register, adding to the 3D effect.

This may be a bit of a cop-out, but I figure if you’ve gotten this far, you can manage a water droplet based on that picture without any help from me. Plus my fingers are all achy from all the typing, so I’ll leave you with that.

Happy designing!