Icons currently on my iphone which I would confuse with Sparrow

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As much as the author would like Cinematic to be a utility its not. Sparrow is used every day it deserves to have a spot on the app launcher.

This seems like a product owner trying to project his own ideal concept of his app "Like Sparrow, I hope that Cinematic will become a utility for my users,"

No its not, you're answering the wrong question if you're asking "What do I want my Icon to convey", instead of "What does my Icon Do? How can I make that better?" Because the answer should be "Make it easy for my users to find and launch my app". Solve that problem by making a distinct icon that can be easily found when needed. Fandango's icon is perfect its the only one I have with a white field. When I want to find movie times, I can always find it easily even though it lives in a folder.

I've gotta say, apps that utilize the same diagonal-line structure as native iOS apps are confusing, even more when they use the same blue that everyone else does (http://pxldot.com/post/26373071943/apples-icon-ecosystem-or-...).

I understand the sentiment and I appreciate that we're trying to make things more streamlined, but the impactful distinctions between icons across each screen increases my use of the service because I'm not glancing over it trying to find it. I like being able to visually separate what was on my phone when I bought it and what I've downloaded.

While a lot of icons are outright terrible in either interpretation or general aesthetics, I'd rather they be unique than lost in a sea of all of the others that look just like it.

This feels like cargo culting. You're copying Sparrow's icon that exists for an app people use every day. I think you're also associating the icon with the app polish itself.

Stick with the old icon. It's much better for an app that is never going to be on someone's iPhone dock and needs to stand out from the 100 other apps people have installed on their phone.

I think this is nice in theory, but it's naive. From a developer's point of view, an icon is an ad that causes you to click and read the description in the app store. I don't like it, but those are the facts.

The author argues that a movie app icon can be designed in two ways:

1. To stand out against other movie apps in the app store

2. To stand out against Mail and Safari on a device home screen.

The fact is, developers are incentivized to do #1 and incentivized against #2. It would be nice to live in a world where that was reversed, but as long as developers are competing for eyeballs in an app store against other apps in a search query that will simply not be the world in which we live.

I've run A/B testing on dozens of app icons. #1 becomes optimal as your app becomes more niche, #2 becomes more optimal as the niche becomes increasingly competitive. Compare and contrast the icons for "cinema" as for "sign language" to watch this battle play out. Cinema you get brand names, abstract art. Sign language you get a hand sign, or little kids (in the case of baby sign).

I agree that there is a difference between designing for utility versus designing for entertainment but respectfully, the new icon looks like bloatware.

Respectfully, I like the old one better.

OK so you've posted some of your ideas on icon design, now provide some robust evidence that your ideas are valid. Otherwise, this is merely speculation.

I disagree in one sense: Making it too boring will make the user spend time trying to find it. iOS/Android suffers from icon overload.

I think the problem with this concept is your premise is based around functionality while your reasoning is based around purchasing. Frankly I almost never think about the app icon once purchased, it’s like reading names in books. I almost never know how to pronounce characters until I have to say them aloud, then for the life of me I have no idea how they sound. Case in point: (until the movie came out) how you pronounced “Hermione” (weird example I know). Back to the point, the icon itself gets it recognized for purchase…making it more harmonious with your app experience once downloaded is an ancillary benefit at best?

I'm not a designer; but I feel that mistaking good taste, i.e. the expensive black luxury car on the right, with 'boring' just isn't accurate.

Everything doesn't have to match exactly all the time. Thats not the definition of minimalism nor even good design.

Copy the thematic elements that work for you, and create new ones that make you stand out.

If you want to go the way you preach, you need to simplify your new icon much more. Lose some of the details - too much of it now with the film strip end and the internal part of the film roll. Losing the film strip end and internal part altoghether makes it not related to a film - more of a rotary dial - but then again in real life size at a quick glance you would not relate to film or movies with your new icon anyway. May be a film spool with not rounded but triangular angles, a dotted edges filmstrip or a camera icon.

I think your argument is based on solid GUI design principles; for example, the continuum from abstract to realistic in icon design.

As you asked for feedback on your icon redesign, I think it could be easily be mistaken for a rotary dial phone, on first glance. Perhaps something that looks more like a film projector would avoid any ambiguity...

The old icon looks much better. Until I read the paragraph preceding it, I actually assumed the left was the new icon and the right was the old, because the right is much brighter and more annoying. The left feels more subdued and like something I wouldn't mind having on my home screen.

I like the look of the old icon better, but at a glance it's hard to tell what the app is for. I'd say keep the old icon, but replace the C with a film reel like in the new icon. Then it stands out enough to find it in a folder (because that app is probably not going in many docks).

Off-topic, but I need to complain about the YouTube app icon. It should be red and white and say YouTube on it. Instead, it's a brownish-green old-school TV. I miss it every time I go looking for it.

Great points all around and the new icon looks fantastic. Your cinematic app looks very cool also. Where are you grabbing the showtimes data from?

So what if everyone made generic icons? I think your idea only works because not everyone is doing it.

Clean design can be just as flashy. The new one stands out...but not in a good way. It looks cheap.

I do agree that app icons should be respectful of the user, but some users demand flashy!