Admit it. Lots of series that you've subscribed to were given a chance SIMPLY because of the appeal of its square icon. I know I've done that.
I wanted to dedicate a thread to shed light on the importance of a series' icon to both creators and readers alike, and also have a sharing of tips and experiences with their designs. (TL:DR below)
Let's start with a Survey:
Concerning Icons, what statement best describes you when you come across a new series?
A) Icon designs are a major make-or-break for me to give a series a shot. A bad icon design is often a deal breaker, no matter the "popular" tag or high stats it has.
B) A few really good icon designs have caught my eye, but it's not the main reason I'd try a series. Other things, like the title or genre, play into my decision to try out a series.
C) An icon is an icon. Never judge a book by its cover...or a series by its icon.
To get the ball rolling, I thought I'd share my own current journey with my icon design and my personal critique:
My series is called "The Middle Crowd.4" It's a comedy series that follows the life of a guy stuck working in retail after college.
Icon #1:
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An initial icon snipped right from the series cover. The contrast of the fun energy of Dani (the girl) and frustration of Danny (the boy and Main Character) spelled "Comedy" to me. But, after taking a look at the large wall of series on the front page, I've noticed a big characteristic that common popular series had on their icon: Color.
Icon # 2:
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I've decided to fill in the otherwise neutral white background with a more energetic yellow and trimmed the characters with a neon green to compliment the red shirts. Did I succeed? Iunno, but it was a definite improvement to me. When faced with a wall of series icons on the front page, often times it's the brightly colored icons that leap off the page.
I kept this icon for a while and it soon started to give me a "romantic" feel to it. I wanted to make sure I match the look/feel of my series. This romantic feel wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but there are a lot of icons out there with character pairs and it started to resemble them more and more. Good for the romance genre, but not what I was going for. Let's try to Distinguish Ourselves. It's time to try something else.
Icon #3
Note that switching an icon too often may serve against you when creating a brand for people to notice. That being said, I wanted to experiment with a more energetic, borderline aggressive approach.
After reading an article from Kotaku that gave a shallow, yet insightful observation of app icon designs, I ripped an expression that my character made in this episode1 and came up with this design. I even added the detail of spit to tap into a reader's other senses (in this case, the sense of touch).
Article: http://kotaku.com/the-top-grossing-mobile-games-are-shouting-for-your-mon-17644920596)
(keep in mind, you gotta take content from Kotaku with a grain of salt ^_^;).
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There are some series out there that insist on putting the title within their icon, but I would recommend against cluttering your icon. First, it's redundant since the series title ALWAYS accompanies your icon. Second, there's SOOO little space already (300x300 pixels at its biggest), so why clog it up? Also, your icon is often viewed when it's very tiny, whether it's appearing on a user's wall on their reading list, or inside the Tapas app. It MUST look good and interesting even when shrunken down.
Rather than a title, I decided to put the "FUUUUUU" in the icon. It gives my icon motion and I bet NO ONE can skim through this icon and not read it aloud in their head. You just did it again, admit it. Anyways, the orange halftone design was added because...you know...comics.
Icon #4:
1
I cycled another character in for my current icon. Here, Dani, a secondary character, is now front and center (yes both characters have same-sounding names). It was an experiment to see what would happen if a girl was in the icon instead of a boy. Not much changed, which is fine because I like both characters ^_^.
Edit: After someone pointed it out, I've come to realize that the orange background drowns out my character's red shirt. Good to know for the next version of my series icon ^_^. The lesson here is that there's always room for improvement.
TL:DR:
There's a survey. Answer it.
-Factor in good use of color, know what genre/feel you're trying to convey, don't clutter your icon, make sure it looks good even when tiny, convey energy, and find ways to distinguish yourself.
That's it for my icon rant. As always, not everything applies to everyone, but it's something to think about.
What answer will you pick for the survey? Any other tips or stories about icons?
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May '16last reply
May '20- 113
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