How to create the best icon

The icon is the presentation card of an App. It must be taken care of so that it stands out above the others. For this reason, it is very important to pay special attention to it and not get carried away by the idea of “now that I have the application done, everything else will follow.” A bad icon can ruin a very good app.

The main and biggest tip for the icon to be effective is that it is unique and different; it has to stand out above the rest. Its function is not trivial, it must summarize in an image the concept of the App and encourage users to use it. Examples such as that of Snapchat, with its characteristic yellow or that of Line, green, can serve as inspiration because as you may have noticed if you have downloaded any of these applications, they are easily recognizable in the middle of the cloud of icons that we have on our screens.

Recognizing devices is also an issue to consider. The presentation of our icon is not going to be the same in one tablet that in a mobile. Depending on the space, it will be seen in one position or another. Therefore, if it stands out above the rest, it will be easily identifiable.

Two things must be taken into account to achieve this effectiveness:

• It should be simple: Icons with text and many images in them tend to cause confusion to the user.
• Make it recognizable: If it looks too similar to another one, it is very likely that the user will get confused and go directly to another application. This happens with icons, apparently different, but that have many similarities such as Skype, Shazam or Twitter; all three are white with a blue background.

Choosing a good color is therefore crucial when designing an icon. If we are not a world-renowned brand, our icon must be original and be in accordance with the chromatic scale of the rest of the application.

To get the perfect icon, however, it is not enough to follow these tips alone. Testing with friends and acquaintances between several models seems essential. The famous A/B testing will be the one that will measure its effectiveness because nobody will tell us more accurately which icon is more effective than the users of an App.