

Make Your App Icons Boring - lookatpete
http://lookatpete.com/make-your-app-icons-boring

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mikeryan
Icons currently on my iphone which I would confuse with Sparrow

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As much as the author would _like_ Cinematic to be a utility its not. Sparrow
is used every day it deserves to have a spot on the app launcher.

This seems like a product owner trying to project his own ideal concept of his
app _"Like Sparrow, I hope that Cinematic will become a utility for my
users,"_

No its not, you're answering the wrong question if you're asking "What do I
want my Icon to convey", instead of "What does my Icon Do? How can I make that
better?" Because the answer should be "Make it easy for my users to find and
launch my app". Solve _that_ problem by making a distinct icon that can be
easily found when needed. Fandango's icon is perfect its the only one I have
with a white field. When I want to find movie times, I can always find it
easily even though it lives in a folder.

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mmuro
Did you seriously just point out all of the blue icons you could find?
Regardless of the fact that they would seriously be confused with Sparrow's
icon?

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mikeryan
No I actually skipped a bunch, Rdio, Skype, Get Glue, Facebook, Stocks,
Weather, Chase

I went with ones in the similar color palette with a white icon

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mnicole
I've gotta say, apps that utilize the same diagonal-line structure as native
iOS apps are confusing, even more when they use the same blue that everyone
else does ([http://pxldot.com/post/26373071943/apples-icon-ecosystem-
or-...](http://pxldot.com/post/26373071943/apples-icon-ecosystem-or-carrying-
the-quality-all-the)).

I understand the sentiment and I appreciate that we're trying to make things
more streamlined, but the impactful distinctions between icons across each
screen increases my use of the service because I'm not glancing over it trying
to find it. I like being able to visually separate what was on my phone when I
bought it and what I've downloaded.

While a lot of icons are outright terrible in either interpretation or general
aesthetics, I'd rather they be unique than lost in a sea of all of the others
that look just like it.

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rsanchez1
That's what I was thinking. I think I would prefer to have good looking icons
with their own identity. Having more apps using the same diagonal-line with
gradient background will make it all look bland.

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nestlequ1k
This feels like cargo culting. You're copying Sparrow's icon that exists for
an app people use every day. I think you're also associating the icon with the
app polish itself.

Stick with the old icon. It's much better for an app that is never going to be
on someone's iPhone dock and needs to stand out from the 100 other apps people
have installed on their phone.

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drewcrawford
I think this is nice in theory, but it's naive. From a developer's point of
view, an icon is an ad that causes you to click and read the description in
the app store. I don't like it, but those are the facts.

The author argues that a movie app icon can be designed in two ways:

1\. To stand out against other movie apps in the app store

2\. To stand out against Mail and Safari on a device home screen.

The fact is, developers are incentivized to do #1 and incentivized against #2.
It would be nice to live in a world where that was reversed, but as long as
developers are competing for eyeballs in an app store against other apps in a
search query that will simply not be the world in which we live.

I've run A/B testing on dozens of app icons. #1 becomes optimal as your app
becomes more niche, #2 becomes more optimal as the niche becomes increasingly
competitive. Compare and contrast the icons for "cinema" as for "sign
language" to watch this battle play out. Cinema you get brand names, abstract
art. Sign language you get a hand sign, or little kids (in the case of baby
sign).

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lookatpete
The premise of my post is that your first assertion ("an icon is an ad") is
not a fact, but a choice. If you search for "email" in the App Store, would
Sparrow jump out at you? No, but they've chosen not to pursue that
"advertising" strategy. Their growth is based on fully delighting their users
with the product, and an icon which, IMO, looks like it always belonged on my
phone.

Sparrow's growth comes from happy customers (and some traditional
advertising), not an icon that looks like an ad.

I'm curious how you A/B test app icons...Do you switch from one version to the
next and compare downloads?

Also, can you clarify what you mean by "developers are...incentivized against
#2"?

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jeffchuber
I agree that there is a difference between designing for utility versus
designing for entertainment but respectfully, the new icon looks like
bloatware.

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brittohalloran
Respectfully, I like the old one better.

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badclient
Seconded. The new one looks like the pink car. The old one looks kinda boring
but the colors at the edges make it easily identifiable around a dozen other
icons.

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10dpd
OK so you've posted some of your ideas on icon design, now provide some robust
evidence that your ideas are valid. Otherwise, this is merely speculation.

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dlikhten
I disagree in one sense: Making it too boring will make the user spend time
trying to find it. iOS/Android suffers from icon overload.

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Shoomz
I think the problem with this concept is your premise is based around
functionality while your reasoning is based around purchasing. Frankly I
almost never think about the app icon once purchased, it’s like reading names
in books. I almost never know how to pronounce characters until I have to say
them aloud, then for the life of me I have no idea how they sound. Case in
point: (until the movie came out) how you pronounced “Hermione” (weird example
I know). Back to the point, the icon itself gets it recognized for
purchase…making it more harmonious with your app experience once downloaded is
an ancillary benefit at best?

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baddox
Regarding names in books, I find that I often learn to recognize names by the
vague shape of the composing characters, and am unaware even of the exact
_spelling_ of the name.

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chaostheory
I'm not a designer; but I feel that mistaking good taste, i.e. the expensive
black luxury car on the right, with 'boring' just isn't accurate.

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lloeki
Exactly. While the author chose a <blink> example to make his point, a (near)
stock Honda S2000 [0] can be just as classy as a Maserati GranTurismo.

[0] <http://i22.servimg.com/u/f22/11/02/45/28/9610-210.jpg> [1]
[http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4132/4950947259_b9c8208ddf_z.j...](http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4132/4950947259_b9c8208ddf_z.jpg)

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tsunamifury
Everything doesn't have to match exactly all the time. Thats not the
definition of minimalism nor even good design.

Copy the thematic elements that work for you, and create new ones that make
you stand out.

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jkaljundi
If you want to go the way you preach, you need to simplify your new icon much
more. Lose some of the details - too much of it now with the film strip end
and the internal part of the film roll. Losing the film strip end and internal
part altoghether makes it not related to a film - more of a rotary dial - but
then again in real life size at a quick glance you would not relate to film or
movies with your new icon anyway. May be a film spool with not rounded but
triangular angles, a dotted edges filmstrip or a camera icon.

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argimenes
I think your argument is based on solid GUI design principles; for example,
the continuum from abstract to realistic in icon design.

As you asked for feedback on your icon redesign, I think it could be easily be
mistaken for a rotary dial phone, on first glance. Perhaps something that
looks more like a film projector would avoid any ambiguity...

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eridius
The old icon looks much better. Until I read the paragraph preceding it, I
actually assumed the left was the new icon and the right was the old, because
the right is much brighter and more annoying. The left feels more subdued and
like something I wouldn't mind having on my home screen.

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jarin
I like the look of the old icon better, but at a glance it's hard to tell what
the app is for. I'd say keep the old icon, but replace the C with a film reel
like in the new icon. Then it stands out enough to find it in a folder
(because that app is probably not going in many docks).

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fusiongyro
Off-topic, but I need to complain about the YouTube app icon. It should be red
and white and say YouTube on it. Instead, it's a brownish-green old-school TV.
I miss it every time I go looking for it.

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xwowsersx
Great points all around and the new icon looks fantastic. Your cinematic app
looks very cool also. Where are you grabbing the showtimes data from?

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eevilspock
So what if everyone made generic icons? I think your idea only works because
not everyone is doing it.

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da_n
So what if everyone made generic replies to comments? I think your comment
only works because not everyone is saying it.

;)

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eevilspock
I can't tell if your wink means you are selflessly throwing yourself on the
sword of self-deprecatingly irony to help me make my point, or if you actually
believe what you are saying.

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da_n
Guess a wink is not enough sometimes, was trying to re-enforce your point!
Agree with you entirely.

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eevilspock
I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed ;)

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CubicleNinjas
Clean design can be just as flashy. The new one stands out...but not in a good
way. It looks cheap.

I do agree that app icons should be respectful of the user, but some users
demand flashy!

