WWDC in June is a new journey for designers, because iOS 7 is flat. In order to adapt to the new style, many application icons must be redesigned. Apple user experience engineer Mike Stern once gave a speech called "Great iOS Design Guide". The first part is about how to create a good application icon. Martin LeBlanc is the founder of IconFinder, an icon search engine. He tidied up Mike's thoughts and gave some new insights and case studies. Why are the UI and icons of the app so important? Users will not see what codes engineers and designers use and what advanced technologies are embedded in the app. They will only see the icon at first sight and then make an impression. Most users want to be intuitive and beautiful, and sometimes they like incredible design icons. The following figure is the result of searching for "camera" in the App Store. In these huge icons, Path stands out. Most other icons use camera or lens pictures as icons, so many icons look similar, and the intuitive, simple and beautiful path just highlights this point. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to spend a lot of time on icon design. Exquisite icons are easy to infect people, and good icons are easy to remind people of the great experience in the app. In order to realize the simple and difficult pursuit of beauty and intuition, Mike gave six suggestions. Unique shapes These four icons are very special. Some of them use monotonous colors, some have diverse colors and distinct layers, but they all have a simple but special shape that you can remember at a glance. Icons are displayed larger in the App Store, but the area on the mobile phone screen is much smaller, not to mention some of them are still crowded in folders, so simple and special patterns help icons stand out. Use colors carefully and don't knock over the palette. Sometimes even one or two colors are enough. Yes, there are many excellent icon that still use a lot of colors, but they are masterpieces that ordinary people can't control. Avoid using real photos. No matter how amazing the photo is, once it is used on the small app icon, the effect is absolutely devastating. The application of Sipp is a good example. It may come from photos, but it's better than using photos as icons. The "S" formed by pouring wine corresponds to the name of the app, and the color tone and light sense have been readjusted. The wood grain background makes the icon look very textured. Avoid using words, not even a word. It would be great if you could avoid using words in your design. Try to use only one symbol or letter to complete the icon. Ness, Pocket, Vine, Snapguide and Pinterest are all successful cases. Applying materials and conveying textures on iOS 7 may be a bit of a conflict. The award-winning working paper is a good example. The level and color of watercolor halo are very consistent with the characteristics of its art app. The same is true of a password, which embodies the security of data through the keyhole. LifeKraze is a real masterpiece. Mike said that this icon is "I don't know how to do it, it is simply the pinnacle of icon art". Being creative is a good way to stand out from the crowd. Routesy, Hipstamatic, Evernote Food and Brewski Me all have good ideas. Generally speaking, the trick is simple, and sometimes complex things are presented through simple shapes. Attach a small reminder. After completing an icon, don't forget to test the display effect of the icon on various color tablecloths. And don't forget to put the icon in the folder to test the display effect. Finally, icons will appear on users' devices in different sizes, and designers need to ensure that icons look comfortable in all sizes. Excellent case display: Ramotion, a famous icon design agency of Turnplay, designed the Turnplay icon and also demonstrated Ramotion's design skills. Turnplay is a music player application, and its UI is a replica of the old vinyl record player. When Ramotion first designed the icon of this application, it was natural to think of the style of using vinyl record player. The following is a sketch of icon drawn by Ramotion designer in pencil at the beginning of the design. As you can see, even in these sketches, there are many details. In these sketches, many people try to put the letter "t" representing the name of the application in the icon design, while in terms of details, they try to outline the texture on the turntable. Finally, they adopted the following design scheme: a simple border with a vinyl record in the middle.