How To Design App Icons That Add Value To Your App?

Every app needs to have a beautiful, attractive app icon that grabs the attention of users as they browse through scores of apps in app stores. As a developer, you would know the importance of visual appeal besides a particular app’s usability and feature set. Unfortunately, I have noticed that there are many apps out there that have extremely ugly and unattractive icons. Think about it this way: an icon sets the first impression, if it fails to impress the user; he or she will not bother trying it out no matter how feature-rich your app may be!

Guidelines to Help You Design App Icons

Professional graphics designer: To get the best results, I have always recommended that you get a professional graphic designer to create an icon for your app. An experienced graphics designer can help you by developing an overall visual theme not just for your app, but all the icons associated with it.

Universal imagery: As an app developer, you should try to focus on using universal imagery that can be easily recognized by all people. For instance, when a mail icon is considered, use an envelope instead of a mail carrier’s bag or a rural mailbox.

Embrace simplicity: It is important to avoid cramming a lot of images into an icon. It is normally sufficient to use a single element that effectively captures your app’s essence. Care needs to be taken here that you don’t use an element whose legal rights belong to someone, as this can create legal issues for you.

Shun transparency: An app icon should ideally be opaque. If your app icon’s boundaries are much smaller than the sizes recommended by app stores (either Google Play or Apple Store), then you may be in the habit of using transparency to develop ‘see-through’ portions. This tends to make the icon appear as if it is floating on a darker background, ultimately reducing the attractiveness of the app icon, particularly when viewed on beautiful backgrounds on users’ home/app screens.

Develop various sizes: You need to make sure you create an app icon that looks good on different devices of varying sizes.

A well-designed app icon can really impact downloads and popularity of your apps. The guidelines given in this book will help you design impressive icons, and has been developed based on the advice given by successful app entrepreneurs in the App Entrepreneurs and Marketers Group.

Do you have an idea for a mobile app ?