App Icon Inspiration

For a long time now, I’ve been a fan of really well designed app icons. It’s quite similar to logo design, in that it represents the brand and personality of a product, but that it only has a very small canvas size in which to do so. It’s also exceptionally difficult to get it right, and when it’s done well it looks easy.

Mobile app icons have – over the years – only gotten better, partly as more and more designers have gotten used to the format, and also because the bar has been consistently raised each year. It’s often no longer good enough to have just a standard, functional app – it needs to be beautifully designed with impeccable UI, and the icon has to look good if you want it to feature on the home screen of the device.

So, with that said, I wanted to bring together a collection of some of my favourite fresh, recent, beautifully designed app icons that all make the most of the tiny screen size they’re given. Each of these has been carefully crafted and gives a real brand to the software that they represent. I hope you find the collection useful and interesting, and if you know of any other app icons that you’d like to share (or if you’ve created any that you’re especially proud of!), I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

The Showcase

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1805392-Camera-Diary-Icon-Concept

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1755566-Pattern-to-Login

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1744147-CodeRange-Icon

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1781896-Creatives-Land-Icon

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1807459-Candy-Camera-Icon

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1803314-iOS-Philips-Hue-Bridge-Icon-Concept

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1798320-Gaian

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1797288-OP-1-Synthesizer-Freebie

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1804112-SwiftHue-App

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1794994-NDC2014-iOS-App-Icon

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1747215-Boleyn-Ground-Photo-App

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1788645-Where-Your-Money-Goes-App-Icon

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1766449-Canva-iPad-App-Icon

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1754194-Sunrise-Calendar-Icon

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1762169-iStat-Menu-5

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1770020-Map-Pin-Icon

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1759696-Combust-App-Icon

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1791616-icon-SO-app

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1729211-Quan-Quan-iPhone-App-Icon-Design

Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/1806363-Taxi-Icon

Hopefully this collection of app icons has given you some inspiration, and maybe it’s even encouraged you to open Photoshop or Sketch and get some of your own designs out of your head and onto the screen. I’d love to hear what you think of these designs or if you have anything else that you’d like to share.