Comments on: Designing Android Icons

By: dian

dian — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:32:30 +0000

Thanks for the post. This is my first time leraning how to make icons. I’ve never done that before. I really need this since I learn how to make android icons. Really confusing for me :) and your post helped me so much!

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 07:10:50 +0000

First, learn to spell.
Second, check your facts. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

By: AJ

AJ — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:49:41 +0000

apple has a bunch of professionals makes their icons because they’re the only ones who can make apps (closed source)

and since android is open source any one can make any app and any icon to go with it
so in away yes most android icons do look like crap(ill admit that i’m man enough) but because of that android is better its more customizable you can unlock hidden doors you can have FREEDOM to do what u want with your phone. thats the way it should be! but with the i phone if apple says no then your screwed over. with android if Google says no we can root and walk around them. :D

P.S.

ANDROID Vs apple

who looks bigger >:P

By: Luke

Luke — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:06:19 +0000

Way late I caught that. :) Interested in hearing your opinion on the new guidelines.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 08:13:13 +0000

This article is about the old guidelines. The new ones ditched the perspective.

By: Luke

Luke — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:56:04 +0000

P.S. after going over this all day, I’m puzzled. I can’t figure out why the new Android guidelines introduce perspective. Is it recommended, or are they simply saying “Hey if you want to use perspective, use this one so they all look somewhat cohesive.” ? Trying to nail an icon perspective that isn’t isometric is tricky, especially when it’s hard enough to nail a design metaphor for some esoteric app function. Is 2D out? 2D like that used on the Launcher icon appendix here: http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/icon_design.html#design_tips

By: Luke

Luke — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:24:02 +0000

Well I agree that they can – within the context you described (icon vs. icon) – generate interest, so to that end first impressions do matter. The goal of selling the app with the icon becomes less about usability and more about command-and-control marketing, a different consideration from software design altogether but one that requires skill nonetheless. A skill I can readily admit to not having. It’s icon design with new and different parameters which I simply don’t have reps in.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:10:12 +0000

From the standpoint of a consumer who daily browses through hundreds of apps yes, the icon is what initially draws to the app. Of course the app’s functionality is what creates a user base in the end but the icon is the first contact. First impressions do matter.
We all agree of course that no icon can save a poorly designed app.

By: Luke

Luke — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:00:43 +0000

Your app’s main icon is what sells it? I thought it was the app itself, and how well it solves the problem it was designed to address with respect to the cost of the license. I.E., the value of the app. I’ve designed thousands of icons over the last eight years and I always watch vendors who have commissioned artwork use icon design as a distraction from R&D, all in the name of this “the icon makes the app!” philosophy. Probably not what you were saying but I wanted to chime in for the sake of venting.

I don’t like to see perspective used in icons unless the display has all kinds of room to work with and even then we’re limiting it to isometric perspective. Rules are GREAT for design.

By: Buddy Beers

Buddy Beers — Tue, 25 May 2010 11:33:36 +0000

Also been doing some Android icon design and it seems like due to the lack of quality control and headache of making designs in perspective, most app designers (especially on 2.0+) are opting for the more iPhone-like flat icons. This coupled with HTC’s Android skin make the flat icons look much more aesthetic. Guidelines be damned!