You may not realize it but the icon of any app plays a monumental role and it is this icon that decides the fate of the app eventually. Sometimes, your app may have everything that a user needs; however, unappealing app icons often lead to the entire app getting rejected. Therefore, as a graphic designer, you need to pay more attention to the overall look of the app icon so that it instantly catches a user’s attention and therefore, eventually leads to more downloads.
Given below are some resourceful tips that will help you achieve an edge over the other graphic designers especially when it comes to designing icons for various apps.
1. The shape plays a massive role
Needless to say, the shape of the icon is the first thing that a user is bound to notice when an app emerges in the search results of the App Store or the Google Play store. The colour, text and other complex features should be considered once this aspect has been looked after. You need to realize that the app will be downloaded across several platforms ranging from a tablet to a smartphone and therefore, your icon must have certain uniqueness to it which can be brought about by deciding on the right shape for the icon. Clarity is a feature that should not be overlooked.
2. The colour palette must resemble that of the app
It goes without saying that you need to be overly cautious of the colours that you choose when designing the icon for a particular app. To put it simply, there has to be some kind of a connection between the app and its icon as opposed to the two being completely unrelated. Therefore, your colour palette must have a strong resemblance to that of the app. For instance, if you app uses different shades of blue you cannot have an icon that has a bright red colour. This is absolutely unacceptable.
Besides, your icon itself must not be crammed with too many colours. Using more than 2 colours can cause chaos to the entire design. When opting for a colour palette for your icon, you must always go by the saying – “less is more”.
3. Keep the use of text to a minimum
As a graphic designer, you must aim at expressing and giving out as much information about the icon as possible simply by using shapes, colours and metaphors. Avoid the use of text and if you must use it, make sure that you keep it to a minimum, a single word to be precise. One of the cleanest techniques is to have the original logo of the app incorporated into the icon.
4. Paying attention to detail is important but do not overdo it
You may have come up with a brilliant design for an icon of a particular app that calls for you to use intricate detailing work on it. While it can make your icon stand out and extremely appealing it will suffer immensely due to its use on varied platforms. The icon sizes differ for various mobile devices. Therefore, keeping it simple is important along with minimum attention to detail.
5. Test the icon along the background of various devices and wallpapers
If you have already tested your icon on the default backgrounds of a smartphone or a tablet, you must consider testing it again, this time using wallpapers of different colours. The app users may not necessarily stick to defaults and therefore, you need to ensure that your icon looks as appealing on different backgrounds as it would on a default one.
