Visibility in AppStore - Icon Design

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by KelvinZhao, Mar 29, 2012.

  1. mommagamehouse

    mommagamehouse Well-Known Member

    Feb 24, 2009
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    CEO
    india
    Interesting ....
     
  2. Jeffmac

    Jeffmac New Member

    Feb 16, 2012
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    Thanks! This is very useful. We've been working over our icon forever.
     
  3. Jeffmac

    Jeffmac New Member

    Feb 16, 2012
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  4. emdash

    emdash Well-Known Member

    Mar 18, 2012
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    artist / Art Director
    Oakland, CA
    Great thoughts on the subject, Kelvin! I agree with all of your points, and they're all things I try to keep in mind when working on icons too. Nice to see your case study too.

    Jeffmac, thanks for adding the related articles. I found the walk-through of the duck icon progress interesting. The appbackr article not so much - no statistics there seemed high enough to point to any best practice or worthwhile conclusion. But thanks for posting them!
     
  5. Mr Qwak

    Mr Qwak Well-Known Member

    May 23, 2010
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    My thoughts were to just use a fragment of a screenshot of game-play. It's obvious it's game-play, and if people like the look of it, they'll click..

    My first game had a mascot icon, and didn't do as well.
     
  6. mommagamehouse, Jeffmac, emdash,
    Thanks for finding the article interesting/useful! Will be following up with a few other thoughts on visibility issues. =D

    Mr Qwak,
    Yeaps, if you are able to show actual gameplay it is definitely a great edge but not many games can fit a screenshot into the icon (even if it's a fragment of it). Not unless it's pixel art games like yours. Btw, tweeted about your game! Hope it can climb back up the charts soon! Great stuff~ =)
     
  7. David Phan

    David Phan Well-Known Member

    Feb 27, 2012
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    President & Producer
    Vancouver
    #8 David Phan, Mar 30, 2012
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2012
    Just curious if there's some special subliminal power or sales bonus to using "god rays" in an icon. It's like 75% of mobile game icons have "god rays" in the background...

    DP

    Btw - thanks for sharing your blog/article on icon learnings and tips.
     
  8. Hercule

    Hercule Well-Known Member

    Dec 16, 2010
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    I think Angry bird started the trend.
     
  9. rikschennink

    rikschennink Well-Known Member

    Oct 12, 2011
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    Webdeveloper
    Netherlands
    I think, the more of something the less unique it is, the less attention it gets.. Nice article!
     
  10. matador1978

    matador1978 Member

    Mar 1, 2012
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    That is very valuable information!

    Thank you ever so much. Will be following your blog more closely.

    And, yeah, the God Rays...I still like em , they seem to work ;)
     
  11. PixelEnvision

    PixelEnvision Well-Known Member

    Jun 8, 2011
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    Indie Developer
    Brighton, UK
    I should also add depending on the app, using a smiling (if possible) face might also be a good idea as humans are programmed to pay attention to the faces...
     
  12. emdash

    emdash Well-Known Member

    Mar 18, 2012
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    artist / Art Director
    Oakland, CA
    You're totally right about us all be hard-wired to recognize faces. I think that's what KelvinZhao really meant by his #1 suggestion of using a mascot. Not every game has a cute cuddly character like his examples of a red bird or a green monster but even successful non-casual games like Funzio's Crime City and Kabam's Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North use "mascots" of a sort to attract our innate attraction to faces.
     
  13. I have just started redesigning my icon so this definitely helps! Thanks!
     
  14. David Phan, Hercule,
    For us, the key reason why we are using the 'god rays' is because it serves as a simple enough background without being too plain (ie, flat color or single gradient). Also having the rays originate from the 'mascot', makes more emphasis on him. I guess most people use it for this two reasons. It's a simple solution to a tough design problem.

    rikschennik,
    Thanks! Hope you find it useful~

    matador1978,
    Great! We will try to update more often, hopefully it can help out fellow indie developers. It's really a tough market out there with all the big names pumping so much money we can't afford into marketing.

    pixelenvision, emdash.
    Yup! It is easier for an user to relate to your icon if there is a be it human or creature looking/smiling at you. Eye contact, it's hard to avoid them.

    30BelowStudios,
    Glad to help! Good luck with your app! =)
     

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