#Ios app icon generator sketch how to#

Here’s what one of my sketches looked like for the Alpenglow concept. Don't miss out on this low-fidelity method that can help quickly and inexpensively visualise things. Sketching in this context is a tool, not a drawing contest. I think a lot of people have an aversion to sketching because they don't consider themselves good illustrators. This isn't about beautifully rendering a concept but rather crudely trying to translate what's in your mind's eye. Get a pen and paper and roughly sketch out the ideas generated during the research phase. While it's tempting to jump straight into a design tool and try out your ideas, I urge you not to skip this step either. Here’s what you can do:Īt the end of your research you should have a few ideas about directions to pursue and, just as important, a few things you'd like to avoid. The app helps you find the best time to take your photo.įrom this research I usually save a bunch of photos and write a few notes on possible concepts. Alpenglow is an optical phenomenon that appears as a horizontal reddish glow near the horizon. A quick Google image search tells me a lot about the subject. I was hired to come up with an app icon for the photography app Alpenglow-and so a first step was simply to understand the connotations behind that word. Places like are also great for inspiration, and I search to figure out what the prevailing iconography conventions are attached to the concepts I'm trying to get across. I also search the stores where the app icon is supposed to live to see how others have tackled a similar design task. What I usually do is Google image search names and concepts related to the app icon I'm trying to make. However, research is such an important inoculation against going down conceptual dead-ends or producing work that's already overrepresented. You wanted to make an icon, not do Google searches. This part of the process is the most tempting one to skip as you're not directly producing anything.

#Ios app icon generator sketch how to#

When you go looking for a concept for your app icon, you'll ask yourself questions about what your product really does and how to best capture that in a single image. It's nothing groundbreaking, but this three-step process has helped me create better and more thoughtful work. While I still do this from time to time, it took me many years to appreciate the benefits of a period where ideas could stay malleable for longer. You could just open up your favorite design tool of choice and start to chisel out your masterpiece. You might also like: How to Market an App: 11 Expert Tips. It's not a step-by-step guide, but rather a framework for producing, evaluating, and improving your work in one of the most amazing design disciplines out there. In this article, I want to share my process for making icons along with a few core aspects to consider when you're crafting your next gem. If that doesn’t show how crazy in love I am with app icons, I'm also working on a coffee-table book celebrating the art of app icon design. I've made thousands of icons, written articles, made videos, and taught workshops. I have spent the past 15 years of my career in this space. It also happens to be very accessible and the one area where most people can easily improve their product. It's design, distilled-a cocktail of branding, iconography, and platform trends. The importance of this one piece of design, coupled with the many tasks it has to solve, makes app icon design an exciting multifaceted discipline. Desktop and mobile app icons, including icons for products on the Shopify App Store, often exist in marketplaces with design specifications (check out the Shopify app icon guidelines under the app listing requirements (No 5)) and many other app icons competing for your customers’ attention.

But unlike a logo, it also has to fit in with platform restrictions. Like a logo, it has to be memorable and unique. It's what people will interact with every day they use your app. That one image sits at the intersection between branding and utility it's the face of your product. You can spend all the time in the world designing a solid onboarding experience, relatable illustrations, sensible fonts, and pixel-perfect interface designs-but nowhere else is the pixels-to-impact ratio as high as in the app icon itself. The single most important visual design element of your product is your app icon.