What does your icon color say about your app?

Your icon is a representation of your apps identity, its branding.  Color plays to an important physiological advantage. Use this to your advantage when branding your app.

When watching TV, the actors’ attire is entirely a costume which helps to provide the scene with a mood and impression that the director would like portrayed. Your app icon leaves an impression, your first impression; it represents your brand, so it better be a great one.

Most icons in the App Store’s/Google Play use a blue background on their icon, why is that? Your app needs to stand out, as you want it to make a lasting first impression. When thinking of colors to use, think about what you app does, not only in the US version but in localized App Store’s/Google Play storefronts. Take some time to decide on your colors, as colors have various meanings in different parts of the world, their cultures and countries flags.

What message does your app deliver?

  • Black : invokes authority and power
  • White: symbolizes innocence and purity
  • Red: signifies intensity and emotion. It stimulates attraction and confrontation
  • Blue: perhaps the most popular color in the app ecosystem, blue tends toward the opposite of red – conveying peace and tranquility; it’s the color of sky and ocean after all.
  • Green: symbolizes nature and is known to be the easiest color on the eye. It’s used in hospitals to relax patients.
  • Yellow: always cheerful and sunny, not to mention eye-catching. An optimistic color thought to enhance concentration and metabolism.
  • Purple: represents class and sophistication; it’s a wealthy color.
  • Brown: like green, it projects nature; in addition to being the color of the earth, it’s strong, solid, and reliable.