This document discusses app icon design and provides examples. It explains that app icons should be simple yet engaging designs given their small size. Icons work best when they clearly suggest what the app is through imagery and a distinctive logo. Contrasting colors that focus the eye are important, as are borders that make the icon pop out. Bright colors can also draw attention. The document analyzes several app icons and provides tips on creating effective app icon designs.

1. Graphic DesignGraphic Design
Presentation ByPresentation By
Sam HaymanSam Hayman

2. What makes a good app iconWhat makes a good app icon
A simple but interesting and engaging design.
• Icon are very small, about the size of your thumbnail. A complex
design will not look as good as a simple one simply because you can’t
see the details at that size.
Simple Complex

3. What makes a good app iconWhat makes a good app icon
A clear suggestive logo that gives the viewer an obvious idea of what
the game is, e.g. showing a solider with a gun suggests a shooting
game.
When people look at apps to download most only look at two things;
The image and title
The image and star rating
The title and star rating
If a person doesn’t look at the title of the app then they rely on what
the icon’s image tells them what the game is to persuade them to
download it.
Shooting game
Card game
(unclear what type though)
Your guess is as
good as mine

4. What makes a good app iconWhat makes a good app icon
A contrast of colours
A dark background and a bright foreground
Bright background and dark background.
• Contrast in colours helps to focus the gaze of the viewer
The contrast in the background and
foreground is focusing your eyes to the main
image.
This icon has no strong contrast so it
uses other means to control the
viewer’s focus.

5. What makes a good app iconWhat makes a good app icon
Borders, a border can be used to add a protruding 3D effect.
A image that jumps out of it’s frame is more noticeable than a plain
image.

6. What makes a good app iconWhat makes a good app icon
Bright vibrant colours and sun flares can be used to draw the eye.
These icons have
bright colours
which draw your
eye in.
This icon is very plain and
the main colour matches
the app store background
making it less obvious to
see.

7. Marketing SegmentationMarketing Segmentation
CORE
CASUAL
NICHE
MAINSTREAM
ONLY ONE

8. Market CompetitionMarket Competition
This is a venn
diagram of games we
will compete with in
our; genre, platform,
age rating, and type
of game.

9. Marketing SegmentationMarketing Segmentation
Reference:
Killers focus on winning, rank, and direct peer-to-peer competition. They are engaged by
leader boards and ranks.
Achievers focus on attaining status and achieving preset goals quickly and/or completely.
They are engaged by achievements, either determined by the game or themselves.
Explorers focus on exploring and a drive to discover the unknown. These players may end
up knowing how the game works and behaves better than the game creators themselves.
Socialisers focus on socialising and a drive to develop a network of friends and contacts.
They help to spread knowledge and a human feel, and are often involved in the community
aspect of the game.
First Impact Player Market Segmentation BreakdownFirst Impact Player Market Segmentation Breakdown
First Impact is mainly an achiever’s game as there are collectables
the player can get.
There is a small amount of exploration and if the game were to
expand new levels would have more areas to explore.
The game would attract killers and socialisers more if a
scoreboard and social network posting was added. A scoreboard is
the next addition to the game if we were to continue building it.

10. Target AudienceTarget Audience
Our target audience are young people aged 14-30, we suspect most
of our audience will be made up of males aged 14-20, we believe
this because the when we got people to give feedback on our
game; the male demographic was more positive.
Our game will definitely not attract the same audience Call of Duty
does; we won’t have that mass of diverse players from different
countries, age, gender, ethnicity, etc. Our game will appeal to a less
mainstream audience, a more indie audience, perhaps someone
who would read a magazine such as Little White Lies.

11. Marketing AimMarketing Aim
To promote awareness of the game
To build excitement for the game
Expand potential audience

12. First Impact’s Target Audience’sFirst Impact’s Target Audience’s
IphoneIphoneIn addition to the pre-installed apps, in my opinion these are the apps that I think First Impact’s
target audience.
There are a set of apps that are required for every teenager and young adults phone; YouTube,
Twitter, Skype, Snapchat, and IMDb.
The target audience is for teenagers and young adult, I envisioned that the target audience
would like films and television a lot so I included a cinema’s app, the BBC iPlayer app and the
internet movie database app.
As the target audience is likely still in a form of education I included the train line app, as well
as iBooks which holds PDFs (I use iBooks to hold the PDFs of the local buses I use regularly,
these are for transport purposes. There is also a group folder filled with useful apps for lessons,
some are for note taking, making graphs, scanning documents and revising for a driving theory
test.
I’ve included some shopping apps; Amazon and GAME, this covers everything and allows focus
on gaming.
The game apps that I think the target audience would have are; Quizup, Jetpack Joyride, Clash
of Clans, and Balloon Tower Defence 3. These games are all strategic to play and have lots of
achievements.
I’ve also included Xbox SmartGlass as the target audience might have a console and likes the
idea behind smartglass. the other app i included was Shazam a song identifying app which
identifies a song being played on the radio.

13. App Age RatingsApp Age Ratings
9+ Age rating qualification
9+. This rating may include cartoon violence and/or mild suggestive, horror or
fear-themed content not suitable for very young children. Think of it like a PG
movie.
Drugs
References to illegal drugs or drug misuse must be innocuous or carry a suitable
anti-drug message.
Imitable behaviour
No detail of potentially dangerous behaviour which young children are likely to
copy, if that behaviour is presented as safe or fun. No glamorisation of realistic
or easily accessible weapons such as knives. No focus on anti-social behaviour
which young children are likely to copy.
Language
Mild bad language only. Aggressive or very frequent use of mild bad language
may result in a work being passed at a higher category.
Nudity
There may be nudity with no sexual context.
Sex
Sexual activity may be implied, but should be discreet and infrequent. Mild sex
references and innuendo only.
Threat
Frightening sequences or situations where characters are in danger should not
be prolonged or intense. Fantasy settings may be a mitigating factor.
Violence
Violence will usually be mild. However there may be moderate violence, without
detail, if justified by its context (for example, history, comedy or fantasy).
First Impact falls within the age rating of 9+.
Drugs
There is no references to drugs, and no taking of ay drugs or
body enhancement materials.
Imitable Behaviour
There is no imitable behaviour in our game the main character
only runs and climbs ladders.
Language
There is no offensive language within First Impact.
Nudity
All of the characters are fully clothed, with the exception of the
main character who is only wearing shorts.
Sex
There are no sexual references or action.
Threat
The threat within this game is at a low level, the FBI have
kidnapped you (the only reference to this is in the prolog) and
in your escape they shot their guns and set lasers which kill you.
Violence
There is no violence when the main character dies he
disappears and restarts, essentially teleporting to the beginning.

14. App Icons AnalysedApp Icons Analysed

15. App Icon DesignApp Icon Design
Gameplay/Screenshot
Title-as-Text
Language-as-Text
Character/Action
Abstract/Iconic
Symbolic/Thematic

16. App Icon Design Peer ReviewsApp Icon Design Peer Reviews

17. App Icon To ImproveApp Icon To Improve
This is the app icon I’m going to
use for First Impact.
It is an interesting crop circle
pattern.
For my improvements of this
original design I’m going to
follow my peer review comments
and try a cartoon version and a
hand drawn version to see which
one looks nicer. After which I
will focus on making the design
look sleek and professional.

18. Monochrome App DesignsMonochrome App Designs
For this second round of drafts I have designed them in monochrome so I can focus on the detail
and add colour later.
I created three new crop circle patterns with six different colour schemes for each pattern. To get
these new designs I had a second look at crop circle patterns on google images to inspire me for
new ideas and alteration to the original pattern.

19. My Favourite Four DesignsMy Favourite Four Designs
These are my four
favourite icon
designs, they’re very
simplistic and unlike
the design versions
at the top of my
second set of drafts
they only consists of
perfect circles.
I will be adding
colour to these
design next after
which I will decide
my final design
choice.

20. Colour SchemeColour Scheme
For the colour version of my app designs I have created these colour schemes. The idea is to
change the colours I have chosen with that of the corresponding monochrome colour. So on
colour scheme 1 the pale yellow would be swapped for white, the purple would swap with the
grey, and the blue would swap with the black.
I have made these colour scheme so that they reflect the crop circle, extraterrestrial look I’m
conveying for my icon. Colour scheme 1 I created to reflect that of the night sky, Colour Scheme
2 and 3 are designed to be related to that of a crop field.

21. Colour App DesignsColour App Designs
For this finale round of design
drafts I added colour to my top
four monochrome designs using
the colour schemes that I had
created (see previous slide).
The colour schemes work well in
my opinion with the exception of
some in colour scheme 3 where
two shades of brown overlap, the
contrast isn’t pleasing to the eye.
My favourite designs are; colour
scheme 1 for design 6, colour
scheme 1 for design 12, and
colour scheme 1 & 2 for design
16.
Origin
Colour
Scheme 1
Colour
Scheme 2
Colour
Scheme 3
Design
Number
6
9
12
16

22. Final Choice Of App IconFinal Choice Of App Icon
This is my finale choice in design for
my app icon.
I chose this design because it has a nice
eye pleasing contrast in colour, the
colours mimic a calming style similar to
that of the night sky with the stars
shinning, the design is interesting and
abstract yet relaying the sci-fi alien look
I needed.
This app design ties in with the science
fiction fans within my target audience
(of children) as most television and kids
films are sci-fi related I think that the
science fiction fans within the child age
range is large and will continue to grow.

23. Professional T-Shirt Design AnalysisProfessional T-Shirt Design Analysis

24. T-Shirt Design DraftsT-Shirt Design Drafts
Design 1 is a simplistic design
that advertises the game’s logo
and our production group’s
logo
Design 2 is in the style of the
new type of t-shirts being sold
which prints of real clothing in
this case it’s an FBI agents suit
with a clip on badge.
Design 3 is a blue t-shirt with a
laser trap (an object) from the
game printed in the centre, the
cuffs of the arms have also had
the laser’s red added instead of
the blue.

25. T-Shirt Design Drafts FeedbackT-Shirt Design Drafts Feedback

26. T-Shirt Designs ImprovedT-Shirt Designs Improved
For the improvements on
design 1 I added a silhouette
of the alien to the back
For design 2 I made the
buttons looks better.
For design 3 I made the laser
beam smaller as requested
and I also made the red on
the arm cuffs have have the
same pattern as the rest of the
t-shirt instead of it being a
block of red.

27. T-shirt Designs Improved FeedbackT-shirt Designs Improved Feedback

28. T-Shirt Final DesignsT-Shirt Final Designs
These are my final t-
shirt designs
The last
improvement I made
to these designs was
to make the laser
short and to an end
to it. This
improvement is
liked by the
reviewers.

29. Poster Design DraftsPoster Design Drafts
Design 1 is designed to look like a scene from the game
Design 2 is design to look realistic which is why the only drawn element in it is the alien with his head out the ufo’s window
Design 3 is designed to look like a UFO detection radar, the second version of this has a sticker on to put the point across to
viewer that it’s an alien related game

30. Poster Design Drafts FeedbackPoster Design Drafts Feedback

31. PosterPoster Designs ImprovedDesigns Improved
On these improved designs I changed
the date of release to the official
release date.
On design three I made the colourful
buttons on the left all the same size
and in line so it looks neat and
professional.

32. PosterPoster Designs Improved FeedbackDesigns Improved Feedback

33. Poster Final DesignsPoster Final Designs
These are the two posters that I will release for the First
Impact marketing campaign as they are clearly
advertising alien related games unlike the radar design
which could be confused with something like battle
ship.

34. Titanfall Game Cover AnalysisTitanfall Game Cover Analysis

35. My Game Cover DesignsMy Game Cover Designs
My first design (above) was done in a rush and my
creativity was lacking.
My second design (on the right) was much better it used
less images and relied more on my creative drawing
then photoshop images.

36. Magazine Cover BreakdownMagazine Cover Breakdown

37. Poster AnalysisPoster Analysis

38. My Little White Lies Cover DesignMy Little White Lies Cover Design

39. Magazine Cover ProcessMagazine Cover Process

40. Thank YouThank You
For ListeningFor Listening
For ListeningFor Listening