Logo Design for Mobile Apps | App Icon Guide

App icons are their own discipline

Your app icon isn't just your logo shrunk down. It's a specific design challenge with specific requirements.

Size

App icons display at various sizes: 1024px for the store, down to 29px on the home screen. Your design must work at all scales.

Shape

Apple rounds corners automatically. Android varies by launcher. Your design needs to work within these constraints.

Competition

Your icon sits alongside hundreds of others on a user's phone. You have milliseconds to be recognised.

Simplicity above all

Forget detail. At 50px, only shapes and colours register.

Distinctive silhouette

Cover your icon with your hand, then reveal it slowly. How quickly can you identify it? That's your test.

Limited colours

Two colours maximum. The home screen is already visually noisy.

Avoid text

Your app name appears below the icon. Text in the icon itself becomes illegible.

1. Putting the full logo in the icon

2. Too much detail that turns to mush

3. Following icon trends that date quickly

4. Using gradients that clash with OS aesthetics

You might need both:

These should be related but don't have to be identical.

Apple: Human Interface Guidelines specify requirements Google: Material Design provides icon guidance

Both have technical requirements your designer should know.

Close your eyes. Picture Spotify's icon. Instagram's. Netflix's. Now picture your icon. Is it that memorable? If not, simplify further.