App Icon
The Challenge
Day 005 of the 30-Day UI Challenge! The challenge was to create an App Icon. Part of the challenge was to make sure that it 1) represented the brand, 2) stood out from a distance and 3) stood out amongst other apps on a home screen.
In total I spent 45 minutes on this.
What I Completed
My first reaction was to create an App Icon for Spotify. I had been wondering for awhile, what the current Spotify Icon represented, so I did a bit of investigating. I discovered that their current Icon is a representation of audio streaming and wifi, creating a feeling of connectivity and community.
I wanted to put my own creative twist on it, so I thought, why not create an icon with Sound Waves? (#1 below). As I was playing with it, I realized that it looked messy and conceptually might not look great from a distance. So, I started playing with the idea that a giant letter S for Spotify might attract users and simplify the brand image. However, since we have so many brands simplifying their image, I felt that next to the other apps on my own home screen (Facebook, TikTok, Indeed), it blended in. And plus, the Spotify green is so similar to the Apple green for messaging and calling, that it blended even more.
Then I thought about how Spotify's main purpose is to get users on their app and listening, so why not use headphones? I would have went with #5 below, even though it technically goes against the rules of an icon image (if every app design is following the same rules, won't they all blend in??), but didn't think it was creative enough.
I ended up going with #10, giving room for the graphic to breathe, which I feel stands out amongst the other apps on the home screen, all of which try to utilize the entire space.
Reflection
I had so much fun with this project, and I hope to do similar projects like this in the future. While I only had 45 minutes and wanted to create something mind blowing, I realized I will only get better with more and more projects and I have to release my work out there to get feedback.
