With more than 3 million applications available on Google Play Store and about 2.5 million apps in the Apple App Store, the consumers have an ocean of choices to dive into. There is just so much convenience that if you enter a single term, you will probably receive hundreds of thousands of apps. Although this is good for consumers, but for Developers, however, this is strict competition. Let’s discover how to make an app icon that will increase your downloads.

You see, building a great app isn’t the only thing that gets you the most attention, it’s a full business model that you have to adapt in order to get the most attention.

And at the top of the pyramid lies a great app icon. Without it, your website is just merely yet another app “trying to capture user data”.

In the past, app icons were purely designed with ease of mind, but today we know that a good app icon is something that is built entirely on aesthetics.

So how can one make an app icon to win over the customers?

Creating a great app icon requires a lot of effort, and we want you to take full advantage of this. Therefore, in this blog, we have shared how you can make an app icon including some helpful designing tips and trends in the market.

What is an App icon?

An app icon is a picture, identity of your app that holds a “bite-size” of information about what your application is about. It represents your brand or product and allows you to make a distinctive approach compared to the rest of the similar apps available on the market.

An app icon is one of the first things a user sees in the store and if your design makes a first good impression, you can surely engage them to click that download button. Think about it, what do human brains process faster, text or images?

Visual graphics are one of the best ways to make a long-lasting effect on your visitor’s mind and if your app successfully does it, your icon will be the first thing they notice.

Difference between App icon and Logo

Some believe that an app icon and logo are the same things. Although they are derived from the same name and have tons of similarities, but they are not the same thing.

While a logo represents your brand, an app icon represents your application. Think about it this way, logos are constraints that you can put anywhere in your design. You can use them in your blog, t-shirts, you can scale them and use them on a billboard, flyers, business cards, and all the other stuff. An app icon is also tuned to represent your brand identity but they more likely,

• Represents your approach to work
• Overall design process
• The metrics
• And used tools

Now that we’ve understood the basic terminologies, let’s actually start the creative process.

A step-by-step guide on how to make a great app icon?

Step 1: Initial Concept

The first thing about creating a great app icon is none other than your great motive for making an app in the first place. By this time, you already have an idea in your mind and all the properties your app can perform.

So, having all this information, here are a few tips that will help you develop a great design idea.

1. Describe using visuals: The icon should tell your app story, what it does and how it performs. To best represent this, think of all the descriptive keywords your app supports and brainstorm them with different symbols and already created icons. From here, you will get tons of ideas for your app design.
2. Focus on Audience: For an app icon to work, you have to keep in mind your audience preferences. This includes what they like, what are their ages, gender, and all the other stuff. Depending on the geo-target data you’ve collected, reflect this in your app design and pattern.
3. Be Original: Don’t just copy-paste a design from your competition. Remember, app icons are mostly one-time gigs, so you don’t want to create a bad impression on the first day. Keep it simple, and always cross-check if someone has worked on a similar thing or not.
4. Stick to brand visuals: If you have a brand design in mind and have followed a similar color or a font scheme in your app, then use it in your app icon as well. Although fonts are something we wouldn’t recommend in an app icon, but when done right, can surely grab some attention.
5. Market Research: Now the last thing you can do is to actually head over to the play store and do a little competition research. Switch to the trend or best buy tab and see which apps are the hot selling. You will get tons of bright ideas from here.

Step 2: Platform Checkup

What type of app are you building? Is it a hybrid app or a cross-platform app? In other words, you have to keep tabs on the platform guidelines before you design an app icon. There are 2 app stores that are popular right now, and they both have their own requirements for an app icon.

Here are the general requirements for both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store

Apple App Store (iOS)

• App Store: 1024px × 1024px (1024pt × 1024pt @1x)
• iPad Pro: 167px × 167px (83.5pt × 83.5pt @2x)
• iPad, iPad mini: 152px × 152px (76pt × 76pt @2x)
• iPhone: 180px × 180px (60pt × 60pt @3x), 120px × 120px (60pt × 60pt @2x)
• Format: PNG
• Color mode: P3 or sRGB
• Shape: Square shape without shadows, no rounded corners

Google Play Store (Android)

• Dimension: 512px x 512px
• Format: 32-bit PNG
• Color mode: sRGB
• Shape: Square shape with shadow

As you can see, the requirements are not much different in each app store. The varying guideline doesn’t mean that you just develop different icons for individual stores. Instead, follow a generic approach and adjust the design in such a way that it remains compatible on other platforms; this will save you time, money, and effort.

Step 3: The Design

Now comes the actual creative process of the guide. With the concept and requirements in mind, just get on with it and start making.

There are two ways you can do this:

• Outsource: A lot of people don’t know how to design an icon and it’s completely fine. There are tons of online websites and marketplace that can help you create an attractive app icon.
• Make your own: If you know about photoshop or illustration, you can create an app icon of your own. In case you don’t know about these tools and still want to design the icon on your own, then use tools like Canva. It offers an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that you can use to create attractive designs.

Because the designing phase is the most important, here are some tips and trends you should follow.

Keep it minimum

Keep your design minimum and to the point. Remember in writing there’s a famous saying “no word vomiting”. Follow the same approach on your design, no design vomiting.

Simplicity is the key to success!

Make your design clear with a bold message and a minimalistic approach. The trend nowadays is a simple design with a simple app icon, a letter, symbol, and some color scheme.

Keep Scalability in mind

Remember, the app icon might be used on a different screen, each having its own dimension and size. You need to make a design that is cross-compatible with all types of screens. Although you might lose some clarity with this approach, but the main highlight will be the same.

Use online tools to check how your app icon looks on different platforms.

Choose Colors Carefully

We’re again repeating the infamous statement “the first impression is the last impression”. One of the first prominent things in a visual representation is the color scheme.

To make a bold statement and appeal to the human subconscious, you have to pick a color scheme that is attractive and to the mark. Here are some tips you can follow here:

• Reflect your brand: One of the best and easiest ways to pick a color scheme. Follow the same color scheme you’ve used in your app user interface. Make some tweaks to make it look more natural.
• Make a statement: The colors you pick should make a long-lasting statement in your audience’s mind. You can also take inspiration from famous brands. For example, the majority of the famous brands use blue, red, white, and yellow colors.
• Follow Simplicity: Again, don’t use too many colors. Keep it simple, short, and aesthetic.

Be Unique

A unique image is always recognizable and tends to stay the longest in the audience’s mind. A great app icon is something that connects the audience in an emotional state. Secondly, a great app icon gives you a competitive advantage.

Because there are tons of apps available on the app store, it is common that your color pattern will match with another app. But the unique design you have will surely rank you on top.

How to make an app icon – Be Informative

An effective icon is something that speaks for itself. But how is this possible? We said to not use text on icons, we also said to make it minimalistic. So how can one make it informative?

Well, it’s quite simple!

An informative icon is something that speaks for itself. Take the icon of the famous Music app on the App Store. It uses a sign of a music note. Something which tells the audience that it can play music.

Now check the app icon of SoundCloud, it represents 2 things; a cloud and a music volume increase. Both app icons are a perfect example of how effectively you can inform your user of your app characteristics.

Step 4: Testing

The path of a perfect icon lies in the testing. Without feedback, how can you make sure your design is perfect?

Introduce your app icon to the market. Check with your family, friends, co-workers, or anyone you can find in your circle. Sometimes, they can also give you much better suggestions.

Testing your app icon also includes checking the pattern on different Operating systems. Use different devices to emphasize the icon on various screens. Android developers, in particular, can use Google Experiment, a perfect tool to test your application, including the app icon.

iOS developers can test their app on Facebook and see how it looks on web and mobile-based applications.

After all testing, you will surely know if your app design is good or not.

What tools can you use to create an App Icon?

There are tons of tools, both paid and free that you can use to create a stunning app icon for your next project. Those who have experience with graphic tools can use Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. These are also professional tools like Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD that offer compelling UI/UX designs.

For someone who doesn’t have a design skill can use online services like Font Awesome, Appicon, Canva, and Logaster. These tools offer tons of free templates, stock images, and come with a drag and drop interface.

How to make an app icon conclusion:

Long gone are the days when you sit back on the sofa, grab a piece of paper, and design an app. In the end, there are a lot of different strategies you can follow to make an app icon for your next project.

An app icon is an integral part of the brand identity and should be in touchpoint right from the start. It plays a key role in grabbing the attention of your visitor, no matter the platform. Having a unique app icon design from the start is a treat of its own.

Enroll in our app development course. 

Hire an app consultant to get your app designed & created. 

Learn how to make great app screenshots.