After coding your app it’s time to make that killer icon that’s going to make your app stand out from the rest in the store. There are many things to consider to designing the best icon to fit your app.
Tips to Designing the Best App Icon
1. If your app is an already established brand, then it’s best to use that brand recognition in the icon by using the logo (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc..). If you don’t have a big brand then your icon should represent what the app does. Instagram is a good example since it shows that it’s a camera app.2. Stay away from using text that’s longer than one word within the icon. It makes it very difficult to read when it’s sized down for the iPhone. It may read well in the 1024×1024 version of the icon, but test it on the phone to see if it’s still legible.
3. The design and colours of the icon should mimic the look of the app. It gives the experience that it’s truly a miniature representation of the app. When the user taps on the icon to open the app it should be a fluent transition of style.
4. Try to make your icon original. Since there are so many apps out there, yours may stand out if it looks different than the other ones in your category.
5. Emotion. You want your user to get an emotional connection to your app through the icon. You’ll notice that most of the top games all have a character or animal representing their game. That gives an emotional connection through the characters expression.
Icon Inspiration
Below are a couple links to collections of nice icons to give you an idea:What Do the Top 100 Paid App Icons Have in Common?
iOS Icon Gallery
Icons Feed
iOS App Icon Designs (iOSpirations)
40 Brilliant iPhone & iPad Application Icons
45+ Fantastic iOS App Icon Designs for Inspiration
Exporting your Icon
Once you have designed your fabulous icon, you’ll need to export it to all the sizes required by Apple.This is the best Photoshop template for creating iOS App Icons:
PixelReport’s App Icon Template
With this template, you can see what your icon will look like in situation, within the app store and on the springboard. Then with a simple action all icons are saved out for you including in the proper naming conventions required.
