I’ll discuss each of my five core aspects of app icon design, give tips on how to improve each aspect and show off some examples of how I’ve worked with that quality. Now, let’s look at some of the best practices in designing app icons. Tools like the ones found on Apply Pixels offer clever PSD templates that can help you get off the ground quickly.Ī short video demonstrating how to use one of the templates on Apply Pixels The Five Core Aspects This set of carefully crafted designs will be used in the many contexts of the operating system where users will encounter your application - including the iOS App Store and Google Play, the settings panel, the search results and the home screen.Īpp icons can essentially be made in any application capable of producing raster files, but common choices are Photoshop, Illustrator and Sketch. ( View large version)įrom a practical standpoint, when you’re making an app icon, you are creating a set of PNG files in multiple sizes - ranging from small sizes like 29 × 29 pixels all the way up to 1024 × 1024 pixels - that need to be bundled with your app. App icon packages consist of a range of sizes. The approach, the tools, the job and, therefore, the criteria for success are different. Icons are most often raster-based outputs customized to look good within a square canvas, at specific sizes and in specific contexts. It’s an important distinction for a designer to make: Logos are scalable vector pieces of branding designed for letterheads and billboards. While they certainly share branding-like qualities, they’re under a lot of different restrictions. The word “logo” is thrown around carelessly these days. Think of it as a tiny piece of branding that not only needs to look attractive and stand out, but ideally also communicates the essence of your application. An app icon is a visual anchor for your product. The first things you need to understand when setting out to create an icon is what exactly an app icon is and what job it performs.