How to Create the Perfect Logo Icon for Your App
We all love a good app, but did you know that 92 percent of people consider an app's visual appeal above all else when purchasing one!
I know what you're thinking.
What! Wait a minute; it's not what my app can do, but how it looks on the customers' smartphones that counts!
Yep, it's all about first impressions because no one wants a tacky looking app taking up valuable screen space.
So, what is visual appeal, and how can you get it?
It's your app's icon, of course, and you can learn how to create the perfect logo (icon) for your app by following specific rules, like those forty or so apps (the average smartphone has 41 apps) on your phone right now.
Tips to Make Your Logo Design Stand Out and Get Downloaded
The following tips are proven to help you create an irresistible icon that people can't resist downloading.
Interested? Read on.
1. Learn and Stick to the Guidelines
Before you jump right in and start designing your icon, there are requirements applicable to whichever platform you'll submit your app to.
Android and IOS have guidelines informing you of things like formats, required sizes, and styles, that'll help you design an icon that sits harmoniously alongside other apps. Ensure you follow both the technical and stylistic recommendations as they play an essential role in further optimization on Google Play and App Store.
2. Pick a Bold and Unique Shape
Want to know how to make your icon stand out from the crowd?
Be bold.
And the easiest way to do that is with a simplistic design.
Take a quick scan of the apps on your smartphone; what do they all have in common? Yep, simplicity. But their designers have also done something else worth noting, they've incorporated what their app does into the icon's design (it might only hint at it, but that's enough), and that's only achievable by using a bold and straightforward design.
You can achieve similar results with no more than two colors and a unique but straightforward shape; if designed correctly, together, they'll make your app icon pop from the screen.
To find a unique shape that works for your icon, draw multiple sketches that have a connection with what your app offers, use circles, squares, and triangles for creating the icon block. All shapes send subliminal messages, and you want to ensure that yours sends the right message and connects with your intended target audience.
3. Get your Colors Right by Thinking Color Tone
Another way of making your icon stand out is (as previously mentioned) by using color, but the designer's trick to creating an image that works as an icon rather than something resembling a Jackson Pollock is to use color contrast.
You can do this by choosing a color palette aligned with your brand design, one that fits your app's audience and resonates on visually emotional levels. To better understand how colors work and what they mean, dig a little deeper into color psychology, you might be surprised by the power that color has on the eye of the beholder!
4. The Devils in Detail!
It's actually in the lack of it as far as your icon's concerned.
The art to creating the perfect icon is minimalization, to the point where it only contains what's necessary for the viewer to instantly recognize what your app does and so it looks cool on their space-confined screen.
Achieve this by incorporating the one main element associated with what your app's offering, and by removing any text and photographic details that only serve to confuse the picture. To gain a better understanding of how it works, look at the most common multinational corporations and their apps, the majority of them opt for basic, straightforward designs.
5. Connect your Icon to your Brand
If you already have a brand or are considering building one, your app icon should serve as a continuation of it, so viewers instantly relate to it. You can do this by using the same color palette, shape, and design for your icon, social media avatar, logo design, and website logo, etc.
The idea of connecting your app icon with your company is, so users easily recognize and associate it with you, your product or service, and on every device/platform.
6. Make your Icon Do the Talking
Think of the Spotify app icon for a moment, the black lines represent increasing speaker volume, no surprise then that it's a music app. What about Gmail's envelope, I guess you've got mail! The point is it's not too difficult to integrate what your app does into your icon.
But this approach can lead designers into the trap of creating generic icons, ones that blend in rather than stand out from the crowd.
Using a visually associated image is a winning technique for creating an attention-grabbing app. Still, to get it right, you must find an equilibrium between automated visual recognition, versatility, and originality, get that right, and you'll have a sure-fire winning icon that people will love to have on their screen.
7. Test, test again, test some more
Wherever the public view your icon, it has to look perfect every time; this is your icon's versatility.
Let's say you've followed all the advice and you have (what you believe to be) an icon that's followed all the guidelines, is bold but simple, has the right color tone, and is visually connected to your app, now's the time to see if it works.
Some areas that need to be stress-tested are:
• First check that your icon's readable in numerous different sizes
• Test how it performs in multiple resolutions
• Ensure that the background you've chosen suits your icon's design and the contrast is set correctly
• Finally, test your icon app against your competitors on Google Play Store and the App Store, and with any other random icons that might be popular on users' screens
8. Tools to help you design your Icon logo
An excellent way of cutting to the chase when designing an app icon is by using innovative tools like logo creator that are designed to provide market-relevant design options and export files in PNG format.
Useful tools Include: