Creating Icons for Apps

Question

Hi,I'm using Flash Pro CS6 to create AIR apps for Android (APK's). Great feature! Superb tool. So far, testing on Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 (JellyBean 4.2.1), as well as on Win desktop, these apps look and work great!Creating app icons has been challenging. Since the Android AIR settings call for 36x36, 48x48 and 72x72, and desktop icons are 16x16, 32x32, 48x48, 128x128, and I'm new at creating these PNG's in FW CS6, I have been experimenting with how to get the clearest PNG output that looks and scales best on these different platforms. So far, through trial and error, I've found that its better to create all of these sizes in FW, rather than scaling up and down from a single PNG. Also, especially when creating a circular design, clean edges can be a challenge. I've found that using 300 dpi is better than lower default dpi settings in FW: clearer, cleaner images when viewed on the devices.As a eLearning content author with limited design skills, I would appreciate it if others with experince creating icons could share their "best practices," what they have found helpful. I haven't been able to find any detailed write-ups/resources/tutorials and would welcome any suggestions for these.My sense is that AIR as a packager for AS3 on multiple platforms is a wonderful feature, deserving wider recognition. Great solution! IMO, building an expanding knowledge base on this forum, for example, specific to creating app icon PNG's in FW, and other hopefully useful topics, could benefit wider adoption of this excellent platform.Kind Regards,

Mark.fromOP · Answer

Always start off huge, for example apple now requires a 1024 x 1024 icon. So I start there.

Consider icon design, a lot of people overlook this as if its just a marker for your app, but in my opinion it is one of 4 key selling points. On a lot of app stores all the user ever sees is your icon, if it looks messy or unclear they will glance right over it and not even give your app a chance, you can have the best app inside but if your icon looks amateur or confusing you are dead in the water. The other 3 key selling features are screenshots, description and rating focus on these as much as you focus on your app, a lot of apps have gotten a ton of sales based on these 4 key elements and not all of them are great apps. However usually the icon matches the app because it is often the same person/team designing the icon as the app so its a good representation.

As far as building the icon I would recommend photoshop for all your graphic needs, I never understood fireworks or why anyone would use it, it just seems like a left over unnecessary organ from the micromedia/adobe merger 10 years ago. Then create all the other icons from your big icon, photoshop has an option when scaling called "Bicubic Sharper" which keeps the images crisp even as they shrink, I find it to work well. Of course design your icon with it being small in mind, always zoom out and preview it at various percentages, it should read clear at all sizes. And always keep it simple, avoid words, stick to icons or letters.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.