This is definitely going in the right direction! I like lumimae's suggestions. The closer crop helps because you can still tell it's a planet, and the meteors start looking like actual meteors. In your latest version, there's just a bunch of dots in the sky (one of them being the moon.) Do you need the moon at all? You might also try going a lot further with lightening up some of the colors. In the version with the camera further out, the Earth blends in with the sky on its shadow side, which you could fix by lightening up either the planet or cheating the sky behind it to a richer, less dark blue. (Similarly you could make the moon more round or lighten up the sky behind it if it's important.) Even in lumimae's closer crop, you could make the sky a richer blue or make the Earth lighter. At the moment the dark seas on the Earth are the same color as the sky behind them and read as negative space. Getting rid of that impression - even by cheating - will help drive home the feeling of this being a planet. Remember, the goal is not astronomical accuracy, it's making a good icon that reads super-clearly and is interesting enough for people to want to click on. Good luck!
Like Lumimae said, you really need to simplify your icon to make it visible and communicate your theme. I'd doubly agree as to this second example (see post above) that you need to zoom in on the planet. You don't need to show the whole planet to communicate that its a planet, no more than you need to show the full body to communicate that a drawing is a person. You could get away with zooming in even more and I think it would look great.
Thanks for the in depth advice! I'm working on a new version right now (taking into account all advice) and will post a preview when ready.
That's looking tons better. I'd even entertain the thought of zooming in a bit more into the subject matter. Maybe 10-15%?
I decided to just show the curve of the planet as it starts to grow smaller again, also this way the balance between the mayhem part and the calm part of the planet seem more balanced.. : ) Maybe for the tiny icon I'll do a more zoomed crop.. Depends on if I can optimize it like this or need more detail.
Thanks! I've tuned down the michael bay lens flare a little bit and have just submitted the update with new icons and iPhone retina graphics to the appstore.
New version of app is in appstore and response on the new icon has been extremely positive thus far. Thanks all!
