

The Art Of The iOS Icon - muratmutlu
http://www.mobileinc.co.uk/2012/05/the-art-of-the-ios-icon/

======
nanijoe
One of those icons was designed for an app of mine :
[http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bill-organizer-manage-
track/i...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bill-organizer-manage-
track/id509909227?mt=8)

We (the designer and I) ultimately rejected it, because it just did not stand
out at 57x57. As good as some of those icons look, you have to discipline
yourself to view and evaluate them at 57x57, cos thats how the user is going
to see them. Also bear in mind that the user will see them among a multitude
of icons, so they have to stand out for more than just being pretty..

I am tempted to conclude that these pretty icons just don't matter as much as
we think they do, and the most effective ones may well be those with a solid
bloc of color (like the path icon), cos they are easier to make out on a
crowded screen .

~~~
vibrunazo
Are you talking about this?

<http://xkcd.com/993/>

~~~
niho
Actually, here in good 'ol socialist Sweden all of our groceries, with a few
exceptions, used to look like that up until the end of the 90s. I remember as
a kid eating cereals from a big white box with the word "CORNFLAKES" on it in
big blue bold letters.

~~~
addandsubtract
In Germany, one of the grocery store's own products are called "ja!" and sold
in white packages with just the logo and the content printed on them.

Example:
[http://polpix.sueddeutsche.com/polopoly_fs/1.992181.12827258...](http://polpix.sueddeutsche.com/polopoly_fs/1.992181.1282725852!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/860x860/image.jpg)

------
jblow
Cute site. It doesn't change the fact that the iOS icon standard is terrible,
though. (It defeats the human visual system's attempts to recognize objects by
silhouettes, which is why so many people take so long to find the icon they
are looking for).

~~~
54mf
It's not terrible. You're ignoring the human visual system's ability to
recognize objects by color, shape, or pattern.

~~~
underwater
Shape and silhouette are closely related.

With simple icons, like the Phone app, the background is not overly
distracting. Unfortunately many apps believe they need to fill the entire icon
with detail. The YouTube and Notes apps have pictures instead of simple
shapes. There is nothing to subconciously recognize so instead I must
interpret the picture and conciously map that to the name and purpose of the
app.

Apple could have used spacial awareness to help us recognize apps.
Unfortunately iOS messes this up too, the home button can take me to any of my
app screens. So I need to get my bearings before hunting for my app.

We are left with just color and patterns to differentiate icons. This makes
the task of recognizing apps much more difficult purely so the phones look
nice in store.

------
markdascoli
Nice collection, thanks for posting. Have you seen Marco Arment's new Nursing
Clock icon? Clever and Unforgettable

[http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nursing-
clock/id525195468?mt=...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nursing-
clock/id525195468?mt=8)

------
esad
The author of the article seem to think that a good iOS icon is a one that
uses a perspective trick to produce a faux 3d effect. I'm not sure these are
very usable when sized down to 57x57 pixels which is default iPhone icon size
(double that for retina).

------
templaedhel
"Never underestimate the importance of a great app icon. It’s the first thing
a user sees before downloading your app (I’ve downloaded apps in the past
solely on the icon making the app seem interesting)."

I cannot stress the importance of this. I have payed money for apps over their
free counterparts because the icon looks better. It's a bite sized preview of
the experience I can expect to have with your whole app, and more often than
not, the quality of the icon is directly correlated to the quality of the UI
and UX as a whole.

------
generateui
Those icons are absolutely horrible. They are images, distracting the viewer
by the amount of details. Icons should convey only the bare minimum of shape.
The metaphor of the meaning should be captured, not the incredilous picture of
a remotely possible parrallell.

------
jyap
The problem is most of those aren’t actually apps (are any of them?) and are
not shown at actual iPhone size. Dribble isn't the app store.

The post may has well been titled 'Cool picograms in a 1024 pixel rounded
square'.

------
kurtvarner
_1) Put £500-800 of your budget aside_

I think this is a gross underestimation of how much these designs would cost.
Does anyone have any real data on the cost of iOS icon design?

~~~
coryl
Anyone willing to pay that much for an icon design either has deep pockets or
a big commitment to good design. That is a lot of money for an icon.

~~~
arn
I don't see that at all. Unless you are just building free throwaway apps in
your spare time, it's in the realm of reason for any serious app.

People do make decisions based on icons, so a better icon can be good
investment if you are trying to attract downloads.

------
replicatorblog
I love all these designs and follow many of the designers who created them on
Dribbble. These are impressive aesthetic achievements, but I'm always
surprised that none of these icons are for an app with decent sales. I don't
think many, if any, of these are in the top 200 of their respective
categories, but there are a number of horribly designed icons in most of the
top 20's. I'm a designer and predisposed to nice designs, but always find it a
shame that these great works don't get a larger audience.

------
rudiger
What do these actually look like on the iPhone at icon size?

~~~
muratmutlu
It varies, on Retina many look beautiful. Some of the icons shown in the post
are only for iTunes which has a different, larger pixel size (512x512) to the
one on the handset

------
hamey
I understand the criticism about these highly-designed icons not being
appropriate for low resolutions, but any decent designer will recreate them
from scratch for different sizes so they still perform well.

------
MaxGabriel
Murat, are there any resources/insight you'd recommend for making app icons
yourself?

~~~
muratmutlu
Here's a great video of one of the designers recording their Photoshop session
and creating a icon

<http://vimeo.com/36302707>

I use this PSD to create icons, it comes with a PS Action that resizes and
exports the icons based on the biggest design so you don't have to make each
one. It also puts it in situ!

Download it here <http://www.pixelresort.com/blog/new-app-icon-template/>

------
eswangren
Just my $.02, and I realize this is anecdotal, but I don't give two craps what
your icon looks like. If your app is good, I'll use it.

~~~
pooriaazimi
You're right. But a lot of users buy/download free apps simply because it has
a nice icon. Would you buy/download '3420 TOEIC Word Test Pack'[1]? It might
be good, but you wouldn't download it because it's ugly and pollutes your
shiny phone's home screen.

[1] [http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/3420-toeic-word-test-
pack/id4...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/3420-toeic-word-test-
pack/id482837003?mt=8)

~~~
eswangren
Well, like most people on HN, I'm an engineer, and I just don't care. I want
functionality and stability. You could have the ugliest icon ever and I just
don't give a damn because it is irrelevant.

~~~
MrScruff
There's nothing inherent in being an engineer that means you can't appreciate
good design.

~~~
Karunamon
No, but dismissing an app based on "bad design" (of a tiny icon, of all
things) is just prejudicial, illogical silliness.

