OUGD504 // Design for print and web // App icon

After designing the app for my products, i then needed to proceed to the app icon. This was a tricky one for me, because the space was so small and it had to be something that stood out when on the home screen too.

I had some initial ideas, which i thought would be great as the icon, but then once i had worked them up digitally they didn't really have any relevance to the subject.

Here i started off by just using the number 3, as this relates to the 3 minutes.

I tried it overlaying the icon size, which i liked but it has no relevance.

Adding a drop shadow, gave it more distinction, but still it related in no way to the app.

I started to imitate the logo more by adding in the shape in the background - which is the same shape as the one in the logo. But i still didnt like it.

making the shape smaller in the background, emphasised the 3 more, but still didn't work as the design.

with the shape in the background being more dominant in colour and the '3' having the drop shadow this was the better design out of them all, but i still didnt think it had any relevance to the app at all.

So i have worked and adapted those designs more to make them more relevant to the the app and actually symbolise what the app is.

here i have taken the original logo and used it in the app icon. This works well here but i imagine as a smaller icon it will be too detailed.

Adding the blue gradient to the icon makes it work better as a design but still it is too detailed i think.

Adding the drop shadow to the logo, works really well within this and makes it stand off the icon background more, breaking the '3' and background colour away from each other.

As i still wasnt happy with this, i tried out another idea.

This was going back to using the '3' on its own again, but adding the squiggles to the background made it symbolise the drawing aspect to the app. I think it needed something to tie in with the app to make it seem like it was advertising it and actually being part of the app. I think this does that more out of them all.

Here i am playing around with the position of the squiggles in the background, but i do prefer the top one still.

To add more emphasis on what the app actually is, i came up with the idea to add the pencil doodle in, this would also add the drawing aspect, but also show writing too. I think this implies a more creative aspect to the app, which is what is it essentially. Although i don't like the placing of the pencil here i think it works well.

Playing around with the placing of the pencil within the design. Between the two i defiantly prefer the pencil pointing downwards as this implies that you are actually writing and drawing. Maybe i just need to tweak the first design more.

From the first design i have just scaled down the pencil. Now it fits in with the design more and with it positioned as it is, it looks as though the squiggle closest to it has been drawn by it. 

I think this is the best design for the app icon and both looks good as the icon and symbolises the app well.