App icons you wish they would change back

[stevearm]

Anyone hated a recent app update that changes the home screen button for the worse? Here's your place to request the developers switch back. I'll start...

Jaadu:: Looks out of place. Prefered the original shiny design

Datacase: prefered the standard button design + gloss

Fieldrunners

Now Playing: new one is horrible

[Rojo]

Now Playing: new one is horrible

Couldn't agree more. I almost want to delete it from my phone, it's so bad... :(

[Compile 'em all]

App icons: serious business

[superstrikertwo]

Any icon that puts SALE or Win 500 or whatever should never happen. It's annoying when they put an overlay on an icon to advertise something.

[iFerd]

Any icon that puts SALE or Win 500 or whatever should never happen. It's annoying when they put an overlay on an icon to advertise something.My experience with things like this is that the icon that shows up in iTunes contains the advertising message, but the one on the phone itself doesn't. I obviously have not tried them all though. I have had icons that show "Free" or "Lite" on the phone when there is a full version also available, though. I don't much care for that.

[finalcut]

Couldn't agree more. I almost want to delete it from my phone, it's so bad... :(well, I have no idea how it was looking in the past versions but the actual icon is ugly I agree with you

[anim8or]

Jaadu... I coulnd't agree more......!!!

Why on EARTH did they change it?

Its something that the developers obviously overlook and should perhaps ask before changing.

As anal as it sounds i have paid extra for some apps based on the design of the App Icon over some other apps!

I call for a Jaadu Thread to request the icon be changed back to the shiny one!

Who is with me?

[stevearm]

Jaadu... I coulnd't agree more......!!!

Why on EARTH did they change it?

Its something that the developers obviously overlook and should perhaps ask before changing.

As anal as it sounds i have paid extra for some apps based on the design of the App Icon over some other apps!

I call for a Jaadu Thread to request the icon be changed back to the shiny one!

Who is with me?

I'm with you, the new one truly is awful.

[TheZimm]

I wish you could just change any of the icons/hide some of them and just have the names, but apple won't do that =P

Zym

[Janglo]

Aqua Forest: On iTunes, there used to be an icon different to on device. It was cartoony, Aqua Forest-like water at the bottom with Aqua Forest in the Aqua Forest font at the top. On the device it was just a stupid leaf. Now they've changed it to the leaf all round.

Also, Air Sharing when it was multicoloured, not normal Red like it is now.

Fieldrunners.

[str1f3]

Add Now playing to the list. It feels like I'm looking at Windows Media Player logo. I don't even feel like using the app anymore because of the trauma.

[vandlism]

Facebook. The f in a blue square just looks lazy. It's not even the site's favicon! I much preferred the app's original silhouetted people.

[RTiii320]

agreed. the one on the left is much better.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/lbcsk8r303/Picture6.png

[IronWaffle]

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. The old icon has class.

agreed. the one on the left is much better.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/lbcsk8r303/Picture6.png

The new one is still better than Movies' goofy blue icon with the popcorn, but I've moved the Now Playing app from my home screen to one of the back ones.

Still, Now Playing is my favorite movie app.

[petemwah]

touch physics! the new logo is absolutely HORRIBLE! the old one was simple but it fitted the style of the game.

[stevearm]

Facebook. The f in a blue square just looks lazy. It's not even the site's favicon! I much preferred the app's original silhouetted people.

I prefer the new facebook one, the latter one looked messy and unofficial.

The new Now playing icon really is quite ugly though. What were they thinking!

[I'm a Mac]

Super Monkey Ball. The old blue icon used to advertise the app store was so cool. The rainbow new icon is really dumb looking.

[stevearm]

Aurora Feint 1. DEFINITELY needs changing back.

I didn't buy AF 2: Lite, I bought AF.

[Rayfire]

agreed. the one on the left is much better.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/lbcsk8r303/Picture6.png

+1

Sent an email to the developer, hopefully he could bring some changes to the app icon nevertheless this is an awesome app, hands down!

[Metasyntactic]

+1

Sent an email to the developer, hopefully he could bring some changes to the app icon nevertheless this is an awesome app, hands down!

Hi there guys. Glad to see the feedback, it's really appreciated.

That said, a few things need to be mentioned. First off, the icons you are pointing to are not the actual icons on the device. These are the icons you get on the device itself:

http://metasyntactic.googlecode.com/svn-history/r2407/trunk/NowPlaying/iPhone/Resources/Icon.png and http://metasyntactic.googlecode.com/svn-history/r693/trunk/NowPlaying/iPhone/Resources/Icon.png

Now, you may be wondering why i changed the icon. The reason for this was the *unending* stream of complaints i got about the old icon. Here are some interesting stats:

I never got any less than *5* emails a day complaining about the old icon. And usually the number of emails was much higher. My total number of icon complaints was over 5000 emails. *5000*. That was out of a total of 13000 personal emails i got form people asking me to change something in my app. So already, about 40% of the feedback was that hte icon sucked and that people wouldn't use my app because of it.

The feedback included the following issues:
1) people hated the inverted corners
2) people hated the red
3) people hated the lack of shinyness
4) people hated the 'pizza' on the front
5) people didn't understand what it was, or what it had to do with movies
6) people didn't like the graininess
7) the gold foil effect looked ugly and muddy
8) people thought it was sloppy that the film strip went outside the border

With that constant deluge of feedback, i decided that i'd had enough and that i'd wrk on something new. With the help of a designer we came up with the film strip ideal (after all, it's very iconic and representative of the movies). I also liked the idea of the countdown timer that you see at the beginnign of movies (also iconic). We put it all together and came up with several varieties that had plusses and minuses. I then put it up to a vote that i sent out to a thousand people that had given me *any* feedback. Of those people, 80% picked this icon. 15% were neutral, and 5% didn't like it. That was far better than the 40% feedback i was getting from people being negative about the old icon.

This variety was chosen because the other options looked too dark or too gray (i.e. they didn't have color), they didn't make sense (i.e. they had the number '5' in the middle which confused people).

Similarly, to keep with the new 'filmstrip+countdown' theme, i changed the background at launch to have the circle with the rotating 'radar' thingamajig.

Since making the change my complaint count has gone down to 1-2 complaints a *week*. (that's 1/5 the previous rate), and my download rate has gone up by 30%!!

So, while i recognize that some may not like the new icon, realize that the change was done on purpose, and that it seems to have been the right choice for my customers and for me.

Also, i hope that if you give it time it will grow on you. If you don't feel that it will, please petition apple to allow app authors to have multiple icons. I will happily provide the old icon again for people who still want it.

I think what i've learned from this is that you can never please everyone. (heck, i've gotten some complaints from people who like the new icon, but are upset that i didn't have it in the beginning!). And that any change you make will make some people upset and make them think that you had no reason for doing it. That couldn't be any further from the truth. I spend a ton of time working and tweaking on NowPlaying, and i only do things because i think it's worth it. Unfortunately, people only see the end result, and if they don't like it, they think it's a crap decision. I'd really like for people to consider that they are not my only customer, and that i have to deal with over 5 million people who all want different things.

[Rayfire]

Ahh interesting, I guess we're part of the 5% :D

Thanks for another fast response (that was really quick) at least now we
know why you changed the icon. If it will do good for the majority (especially
the complaints) then I guess that's fine, I'll settle with it :)

[Metasyntactic]

Ahh interesting, I guess we're part of the 5% :D

Thanks for another fast response (that was really quick) at least now we
know why you changed the icon. If it will do good for the majority (especially
the complaints) then I guess that's fine, I'll settle with it :)

Or just petition apple to allow theming or to allow app authors to change their icons dynamically (like the Calendar app does). Then this won't be a problem. I'll simply ship both icons in my bundle and allow you to pick which one you like better.

What i find amazing (both before and after the switch) is just how many people seem to care about this issue. I would have never ever guessed that 40% of my feedback would be about a 57x57 square pixel piece of art, versus the tens of thousands of lines of code i've written and the functionality i'm providing and improving upon each day.

[xsecretfiles]

Hi there guys. Glad to see the feedback, it's really appreciated.
.

haha I know you are always listening around here, and I'm glad you respond to feedback so quick!

while I particularly don't like the new icon, I still love the app. I'm still using it every weekend :)

But who knows maybe the icon will eventually evolve into something shinier?
Good work :)

[SFC Archer]

I have to say that I like the old "Now Playing" app as well but after your explanation can totally respect and accept the change! It will grow on me. I like the side film border of the new icon and can accept the center play iconic symbol. I think it is the upper left white corner that makes it too white combined with the white center and purple and yellow just are not my thing. Again, I accept and it will grow on me but would recommend changing the white corner square.

There are two icons that bug me...one is "Custom Sounds of Nature" The old icon was more nature like and professional looking. The new one looks cartoonish and "cheap".

Another one that hasn't changed but I think should be changed is "ooTunes" this icon is also cartoonish and does not look like a streaming live radio related icon. The icon does not fit the app and what it does and I think it would increase sales if the icon fit the app.

I have informed both devs of my opinion so they are aware.

[stevearm]

Quite frankly, I'm amazed that more people like the new gharish icon with the ugly bright 5 year old colours on them. Is it not possible that after the first batch of 12000 emails about your product, interest when down and people felt less inclined to get in touch? I'd be very surprised if you haven't received email complaints about the latest icon.

Have you thought about perhaps, getting rid of the cut corners (Which I personally like), adding a gloss and maybe a couple of other tweaks to the old design, and putting both up on your site and submit it for voting? Or how about on here?

The old icon said 'the movies', this new one is a strange mix of Flickr and Delicious with a 'play' button on the front.

[Metasyntactic]

Quite frankly, I'm amazed that more people like the new gharish icon with the ugly bright 5 year old colours on them. Is it not possible that after the first batch of 12000 emails about your product, interest when down and people felt less inclined to get in touch? I'd be very surprised if you haven't received email complaints about the latest icon.

Have you thought about perhaps, getting rid of the cut corners (Which I personally like), adding a gloss and maybe a couple of other tweaks to the old design, and putting both up on your site and submit it for voting? Or how about on here?

The old icon said 'the movies', this new one is a strange mix of Flickr and Delicious with a 'play' button on the front.My download rate went up 30% with the new icon, and weekly hate mails dropped from ~100 a week to about 2-3 a week. I can't argue with those results.

The numbers indicate that ~5% of people dislike the new icon. But that's a lot better than the 40% from before.

BTW, if anyone wants to make a better icon, feel free to do so. Thanks!

[RobT]

When I read the title of this thread and went in with the express purpose of identifying Now Playing. Seems like there is quite a line forming on this.

I definitely prefer the old icon over the new one.

[WishIWasHere]

Gotta say I'm BAFFLED that people seem to prefer the new icon for Now Playing. I liked the original a lot, and pretty much hate the new one. That said, for me the icon of an app is secondary to the functionality, as it should be for everybody. I appreciate that the developer for Now Playing is obviously dedicated to making the app as good as possible. For evidence, see the 12 updates in the 6 months since launch. An update an average of every 2 weeks, not bad at all...

[Metasyntactic]

Gotta say I'm BAFFLED that people seem to prefer the new icon for Now Playing. I liked the original a lot, and pretty much hate the new one. That said, for me the icon of an app is secondary to the functionality, as it should be for everybody. I appreciate that the developer for Now Playing is obviously dedicated to making the app as good as possible. For evidence, see the 12 updates in the 6 months since launch. An update an average of every 2 weeks, not bad at all...

Actually, that's the *maximum* rate i can get in. The apple review process can take weeks. Very frustrating *esp* since i've had my app rejected because apple did not agree with my icon choices (inside the app) at times. Jeesh...

[Metasyntactic]

Gotta say I'm BAFFLED that people seem to prefer the new icon for Now Playing. I liked the original a lot, and pretty much hate the new one. That said, for me the icon of an app is secondary to the functionality, as it should be for everybody. I appreciate that the developer for Now Playing is obviously dedicated to making the app as good as possible. For evidence, see the 12 updates in the 6 months since launch. An update an average of every 2 weeks, not bad at all...

I'd like people who say they hate they new icon to explain why.

Here's my take on it:

I't simple. Clearly evokes a cell from a strip of film. Has the countdown timer thingy that you see before a film.

The things i could see are the arrow in the middle and the color choices for the quadrants. If you do not like those, then please let me know what you would prefer. (or if you dislike other things, please speak up too).

The people complaining about the old icon listed the things they disliked. All i'm getting now are people saying that they don't like the new icon, but haven't explained why. I'm not a mind reader :) And the tone of the posts makes me feel that this could just be a gut reaction to something new and different from what a person was used to.

[Rayfire]

I'd like people who say they hate they new icon to explain why.

Here's my take on it:

I't simple. Clearly evokes a cell from a strip of film. Has the countdown timer thingy that you see before a film.

The things i could see are the arrow in the middle and the color choices for the quadrants. If you do not like those, then please let me know what you would prefer. (or if you dislike other things, please speak up too).

The people complaining about the old icon listed the things they disliked. All i'm getting now are people saying that they don't like the new icon, but haven't explained why. I'm not a mind reader :) And the tone of the posts makes me feel that this could just be a gut reaction to something new and different from what a person was used to.

Ok I'll explain my take.

The reason why I like the previous app icon because it is simple yet classy looking IMHO. I love it when it's kinda bit glossy, the tape roll or film roll suggests a movie to me already (or whoever uses my iPhone)

The current app icon to me is confusing, probably because I'm not used to the countdown timer thing before a film - and I think those look black not 4 multi-colored sections (I might be wrong) The play icon located in the middle however suggests that it's for a movie.

Nevertheless I still love the app since I used it more than twice a week to check upon movies etc. I love this app. If(if..) however the app icon will be changed, I just want to keep it simple, little bit glossy, only contains two colors not a lot, and a distinguishing icon that suggests a movie. The popcorn can't be used anymore nor a word "movie".

[Metasyntactic]

BTW, the PSD is here: http://metasyntactic.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/NowPlaying/Resources/Icon2.psd

If you want to change it, go nuts.

I can see someone wanting a different color scheme. If you come up with something good let me know.

Here's an example of this sort of film strip:

http://www.mdofpc.com/onlinestore/images/countdown_film.jpg

I didn't go with something directly like that since it was too black/white/gray. Numbers also aren't htat good since it's not actually animated.

[IronWaffle]

Count me as part of the ~5%. For me I think I just liked the more old-fashioned feel of old icon. Sedate colors, stately font and the cut corners. That said, if your downloads have gone up that much and the new logo is part or all of that reason I'll gladly bite my tongue:) I love your app and am glad to see it succeed.

Thanks for offering up the *.psd. It'll be fun to play with, though I doubt I'll pass anything along. Keep up the great work (and maybe tone down the colors on the icon;) ).

My download rate went up 30% with the new icon, and weekly hate mails dropped from ~100 a week to about 2-3 a week. I can't argue with those results.

The numbers indicate that ~5% of people dislike the new icon. But that's a lot better than the 40% from before.

BTW, if anyone wants to make a better icon, feel free to do so. Thanks!

[Buschmaster]

Very nice to see a developer willing to take the time to listen to their users and so willingly change things based on what the user wants. :):apple:

That having been said, I LOVED the old icon, it was probably my favorite one on my iPhone, and now the new one isn't necessarily bad to me, I just happened to like the old one so much that I miss it.

[SFC Archer]

Metasyntactic...on my last post (last on page 1) I made some recommendations, not sure if you saw it or not.

Users will adapt to the new icon...change the pink to the old fashioned red you had on the other. Turn the yellow into the gold you used on the other. Tone down the blue and antique it and change the upper left white corner into another color. Since you can't animate it, I understand the use of the play arrow or maybe you could list 4...3...2...1...> across the center or something similar.

Again, those complaining here are maybe .05% of the 5% that do not like it so don't loose your cool for the few that are nagging here...they are petty. You can not please everyone and your app is doing well as you posted so obviously you are doing the right thing. You can not please everyone and never will...going back to the old one will probably be a mistake based on your complaint ratio. Its your income, your app, and your icon...do with it as you will and make your bucks!!! :D

[IronWaffle]

I agree with your entire comment (including the suggestions), but really wanted to re-emphasize the bit quoted below (except the part about me being petty;)). I also want to echo how admirable it is for you to open up revising the icon to your users even if it remains as-is.

Metasyntactic...on my last post (last on page 1)

Again, those complaining here are maybe .05% of the 5% that do not like it so don't loose your cool for the few that are nagging here...they are petty. You can not please everyone and your app is doing well as you posted so obviously you are doing the right thing. You can not please everyone and never will...going back to the old one will probably be a mistake based on your complaint ratio. Its your income, your app, and your icon...do with it as you will and make your bucks!!! :D


That said, what about a (free) font like SF Movie Poster (http://www.dafont.com/sf-movie-poster.font)? D'oh... bein' petty again;)

Okay. Work's over for the day. Time to see what's playing at the movies.

p.s. I just e-mailed a modification and just wanted to say that having peeled the layers of your file it's worth mentioning to folks that you clearly tried other concepts before settling on this one. It was obviously not a careless change!

[stevearm]

Interesting how everyone in this topic prefered the old icon, without a single person prefering the new one.

Anyone else dislike the new one?

Why don't I like it?

- The film strip idea is cheesy, cliched, over-used, and very amateurish
- The colours are horrible, unlike the classy movie-like ones of the original
- The play button doesn't make much sense, unlike the film reel
- It doesn't say 'the movies', it might suggest 'Videos', but the original instantly said 'cinema listings'

[Metasyntactic]

Metasyntactic...on my last post (last on page 1) I made some recommendations, not sure if you saw it or not.

Users will adapt to the new icon...change the pink to the old fashioned red you had on the other. Turn the yellow into the gold you used on the other. Tone down the blue and antique it and change the upper left white corner into another color. Since you can't animate it, I understand the use of the play arrow or maybe you could list 4...3...2...1...> across the center or something similar.

Again, those complaining here are maybe .05% of the 5% that do not like it so don't loose your cool for the few that are nagging here...they are petty. You can not please everyone and your app is doing well as you posted so obviously you are doing the right thing. You can not please everyone and never will...going back to the old one will probably be a mistake based on your complaint ratio. Its your income, your app, and your icon...do with it as you will and make your bucks!!! :D

I'll try some stuff out to see what might look better. I've shrunk the play icon a bit in the latest icon, and i'll run through some other colors to see if they work better.

That said, i'm not a designer or a photoshop guru. Lots of people here have asked me to change things. If you'd be willing to actually experiment around and present some results then that would be great.

Thanks!

Interesting how everyone in this topic prefered the old icon, without a single person prefering the new one.

Anyone else dislike the new one?

Why don't I like it?

- The film strip idea is cheesy, cliched, over-used, and very amateurish
- The colours are horrible, unlike the classy movie-like ones of the original
- The play button doesn't make much sense, unlike the film reel
- It doesn't say 'the movies', it might suggest 'Videos', but the original instantly said 'cinema listings'
What is amateurish about the film strip? And why is a film strip amateurish (since you're going to see a film), but a ticket is not?

If you don't like the colors, could you please recommend something you would like? Also, realize that the color was *almost* the number one complaint about the old icon. I'll try to count them up, but i think it was >1000 people who didn't like the red. What you call 'classy', they called 'distracting', 'an eyesore', 'garish', and many of them said it did not fit at all with their other apps. I'm not sure people appreciate how difficult it is to please people with something like color. And, if you take a look at my PSD, you'll see that several things were tried out. including (but not limited to) things like:

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/116648/Icon/1295404-original.jpeg http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/116648/Icon/1298858-original.jpeg http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/116648/Icon/mail.jpeg
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/116648/Icon/pastedGraphic.png
And all sorts of colors and shades for the film, the center, the font, etc. etc.

The last one was actually my favorite. I loved the use of negtive space to blend the icon into the background and to form the cell holes. However, it was absolutely detested by everyone else. Apparently not having rounded corners on icons is something that drives people into an absolute tizzy. It seems like it just goes against some people's sensibilities as to what is an icon or not.

Please feel free to adjust things yourself and pass them on to me :)


Would you recommend something other then the play button in the middle?

Clearly the original didn't say 'cinema listings' since i had 5000 posts from people who said they didn't like it or didn't understnd it. You're asking me to change things based on a dozen or so posts in a forum. But you're just *again* pointing out things you don't like without suggestions on how to improve them.

I've given you my data. I've let you know how my other customers feel. I've even provided you with direct access to my project and my resource files. If you could provide some constructive points that would be very helpful since they would be actionable on my part.

I agree with your entire comment (including the suggestions), but really wanted to re-emphasize the bit quoted below (except the part about me being petty;)). I also want to echo how admirable it is for you to open up revising the icon to your users even if it remains as-is.




That said, what about a (free) font like SF Movie Poster (http://www.dafont.com/sf-movie-poster.font)? D'oh... bein' petty again;)

Okay. Work's over for the day. Time to see what's playing at the movies.

p.s. I just e-mailed a modification and just wanted to say that having peeled the layers of your file it's worth mentioning to folks that you clearly tried other concepts before settling on this one. It was obviously not a careless change!
Hi there! I'm not sure i understand what you're trying to say. The icon on the phone doesn't have any text in it, so i'm not sure how it would help to change the font.

Thanks!

Count me as part of the ~5%. For me I think I just liked the more old-fashioned feel of old icon. Sedate colors, stately font and the cut corners. That said, if your downloads have gone up that much and the new logo is part or all of that reason I'll gladly bite my tongue:) I love your app and am glad to see it succeed.

Thanks for offering up the *.psd. It'll be fun to play with, though I doubt I'll pass anything along. Keep up the great work (and maybe tone down the colors on the icon;) ).

Hi IronWaffle, could you explain what you mean by 'Stately font'? The icon on the phone had no font associated with it. I'm thinking you mean the icon provided for the appstore. However, that's not the case i want to optimize for. I need to think about hte phone experience (since that's the common interaction point) and all the complaints levied against the last one.

I also need to deal with the fact that my customers, when polled, liked this new icon by a factor of *16 to 1*.

But again, you are welcome to contribute toward the icon. If you improve it, i absolutely will include it in a further update. (and i'll be sure to send any love/hate mails i get for it your way :D ).

[stevearm]

What is amateurish about the film strip? And why is a film strip amateurish (since you're going to see a film), but a ticket is not?

If you don't like the colors, could you please recommend something you would like?

Would you recommend something other then the play button in the middle?

Clearly the original didn't say 'cinema listings' since i had 5000 posts from people who said they didn't like it or didn't understnd it. You're asking me to change things based on a dozen or so posts in a forum. But you're just *again* pointing out things you don't like without suggestions on how to improve them.

I've given you my data. I've let you know how my other customers feel. I've even provided you with direct access to my project and my resource files. If you could provide some constructive points that would be very helpful since they would be actionable on my part.


Film strips are very cheesy and over-used. They're predictable and amateurish. I'm not sure how much better and more obviously I can explain it.

I have a great idea for a new icon:

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/8797/16540889.jpg

Gloss, rounded corners, classy, perfect (in my opinion). Maybe I'm the only one who thinks so.

Having a few oddly coloured squares with a 'Play' button in the middle does not symbolise 'cinema listings' to me. Again, maybe I'm alone in that assessment.

I wonder how many complaints you would have gotten if you'd put up the newer icon from the very beginning. I would predict more than 5000.

I would love to add a poll to this topic, asking people which they prefered, the new one or the old one. I get the feeling it would be an 85-15 split, favouring the original. You can't base all your judgement on the fact that complaint emails have dried up, after all the hardcore people have vented in the very beginning.

I do however think you're fantastic to come on here and listen to what your customers would like to see. Good for you.

[gospel9]

Seriously... why the change for Now Playing?

Actually, this wasn't the first or second time it's changed... I remember way back when it had a beautiful icon.

[WishIWasHere]

Yeah, okay. I guess it wasn't fair to say I hated the new icon and not explain why. From the first time I saw it, it was the colors that I couldn't stand. Looking at the other options that you've shown, I can see now that the colors are the only real problem I have with the new icon. I don't agree that film strip is amateurish, I think it looks just fine. It was just those different colors. The icon with all four quadrants in blue, with 'now playing' in the center, doesn't just look a little bit better, it looks a LOT better, to me anyway. I like the blue, but I don't think it matters so much what color it is, as long as it's not multi colored. I prefer 'now playing' in the center, but I doubt that having a play button instead would bother me at all.

[stevearm]

Blue by itself is indeed ten times better than that multi-coloured stuff that just look horrible.

But I still prefer the original.

And yes the last design where it blends into the black background is indeed terrible. If you'd switch the black frame to white and have the holes as black it may work better.

But again, nothing will beat the class and polish of the original.

[SFC Archer]

I'll try some stuff out to see what might look better. I've shrunk the play icon a bit in the latest icon, and i'll run through some other colors to see if they work better.

That said, i'm not a designer or a photoshop guru. Lots of people here have asked me to change things. If you'd be willing to actually experiment around and present some results then that would be great.

Thanks!

I would love to help you out and experiment but alas, I don't have any decent software other then what comes with XP. They were just recommendations anyway. Either way its the app that counts and I the app is just fine as long as it is what the majority want. You must go with what is going to bring home the bacon. :D

Some old timers are just hard to please or just plain unwilling to adapt. They are so used to complaining and then make it worse by not stating what they want. They just don't seem to understand how much business you were loosing with the old icon and that to make your product even more profitable you had to change...kind of sounds like our government and economy...they talk alot of smack but keep doing the same things over and over expecting different results...insanity! Change is good and they will tire of the crying soon.

Keep up the great work on your App!

[sos85]

agreed. the one on the left is much better.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/lbcsk8r303/Picture6.png

The Icon is very beautiful , but the color is not vey good.

I think Silver dark or blue is better.

[Metasyntactic]

Film strips are very cheesy and over-used. They're predictable and amateurish. I'm not sure how much better and more obviously I can explain it.

I have a great idea for a new icon:

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/8797/16540889.jpg

Gloss, rounded corners, classy, perfect (in my opinion). Maybe I'm the only one who thinks so.

And it is also red, and does not solve the problem of people asking 'why is there a pizza in the middle?'

You also don't realize that i *tried* an icon very similar to that as an option. i.e. i rounded the corners and made it shiny. It was not accepted by users.

There are simply a lot of people who do not like the strong red style and film reel on top.

I've asked these people waht they don't like about it, and they said that the icon is meaningless to them. When asked if they were able to understand that it was a ticket or not, many said that they hadn't realized it looked like a ticket, and it did not look like any ticket that they'd ever seen.

Having a few oddly coloured squares with a 'Play' button in the middle does not symbolise 'cinema listings' to me. Again, maybe I'm alone in that assessment.

I wonder how many complaints you would have gotten if you'd put up the newer icon from the very beginning. I would predict more than 5000.

Why? You seem to have ignored my point that i had a fairly constant complaint rate for several months now. And since changing my download rate has gone up and complaints have gone *down*.

I would love to add a poll to this topic, asking people which they prefered, the new one or the old one. I get the feeling it would be an 85-15 split, favouring the original. You can't base all your judgement on the fact that complaint emails have dried up, after all the hardcore people have vented in the very beginning.

What are you talking about? If the venting was only in the beginning, then why was i still getting 5-10 emails a *day* on the issue? Why is that now down to only a couple a week? (actually, i keep on *almost* making it a full week without complaints. and then invariably i get like 2 right at the end).

Seriously... why the change for Now Playing?

Please read the thread. I have provided a whole lot of information on why it was changed.

Actually, this wasn't the first or second time it's changed... I remember way back when it had a beautiful icon.

I wish people would simply realize that what they think it beautiful is not necessarily what other people think is beautiful.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. I tried a bunch of different icons. I polled users. I got feedback. I made a change based on that feedback. And i now have less complaints and more downloads...

I'm willing to try to improve things even more. However, saying that i should revert back to the old icon without considering all the issues that pissed people off is *not* helping.

If my #2 complaint is the 'red' color of the icon, then that has to be addressed.

The Icon is very beautiful , but the color is not vey good.

I think Silver dark or blue is better.Neither of these icons are the iPhone icon. They are simply the appstore icon.

[Rayfire]

I wish people would simply realize that what they think it beautiful is not necessarily what other people think is beautiful.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. I tried a bunch of different icons. I polled users. I got feedback. I made a change based on that feedback. And i now have less complaints and more downloads...

I'm willing to try to improve things even more. However, saying that i should revert back to the old icon without considering all the issues that pissed people off is *not* helping.

If my #2 complaint is the 'red' color of the icon, then that has to be addressed.

Don't be compelled with our feed backs only from users here at MR, I know you won't since most of us are part of 5% ;)

[Metasyntactic]

Blue by itself is indeed ten times better than that multi-coloured stuff that just look horrible.

See, it's stuff like this that just doesn't help.

If i simply said "let me find an icon that someone doesn't think looks horrible", then i would *never* find an icon that works. Full stop.

I have *many* customers, all of whom have different tastes. When given the option of the blue vs. the multi colored, they chose the multi-colored.

Do you think that i should not listen to the majority here?

But I still prefer the original.

And yes the last design where it blends into the black background is indeed terrible. If you'd switch the black frame to white and have the holes as black it may work better.

I rest my case. I like it a lot. You don't like it. What is there to be done?

I've already polled. People already voted. Simply saying i should switch to an icon that people have already said they disliked is not an answer.

[ericfelt]

I love Now Playing but haven't updated just to avoid the new icon on my home screen. The red on the old one looked much classier than the current 4 square color scheme. I actually like the concept of the new one if the colors weren't so noticeably bright and distracting. They don't really add to the effect of a movie reel.

[Metasyntactic]

Don't be compelled with our feed backs only from users here at MR, I know you won't since most of us are part of 5% ;)

I just wish that people were willing to be more constructive. I've seen a fair number of people just complaining, and also saying my decision was a bad one *even after i listed my reasoning*.

I'm giving people an opportunity to do something about this.

If you do not like the icon, people modify the one i have, or provide a new one. I will poll my users (this time a different 1000) to see how they feel. Please do not provide a shiny, rounded corner version of the original icon. This was tried, and shot down already. And please be open to the idea that what you like is not what everyone else will like.

I showed an example of an icon that i really liked. And just then someone in the thread said that it looked horrible. Please be aware that that will be true of any icon choice that you come up with yourself.

I love Now Playing but haven't updated just to avoid the new icon on my home screen. The red on the old one looked much classier than the current 4 square color scheme. I actually like the concept of the new one if the colors weren't so noticeably bright and distracting. They don't really add to the effect of a movie reel.

Could you take the PSD and provide a version that you think would be less bright and distracting?

I also find this interesting since the yellows and blues i user are found in other icons (like the Weather and Photos icons).

[ericfelt]

I was actually trying out color combos after I saw the PSD. This was the best I could come up with tonight. I'll try again this weekend.

I prefer the antique look with the movie reel over the bright pink/blue/yellow combo.

[wbe858]

I am amazed with your patience Metasyntactic, after reading this whole thread and people just not answering your question I'm surprised you haven't just lost it yet..however i do give you credit on your app though, and whatever your icon becomes i love the app and use it all the time. I wish i could help you with your icon choice but then again before reading this i didn't realize how much an icon meant to some people. Either way I'm sure i will see the outcome, and good luck.

Oh and by the way this just has to be the 5% we all love the original, i just have no clue why. :confused:

[icloud]

Hmm... I must be part of the 95%

Soon as I saw the app I downloaded it. I actually deleted the app for the red tapered icon but this new version brought me back.

Listen to your downloads, an increase of 30% should mean more than some of the complaining that's going on. If this forums view was holistically representative, you'd be getting 1-2 downloads a week, not an influx of 30%

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I like the new Now Playing icon... the bright colors are fun. I also liked the blue one that Metasyntactic posted a page back.

Keep up the good work, I dig your app. I've been using it since it was first released.

[Metasyntactic]

I was actually trying out color combos after I saw the PSD. This was the best I could come up with tonight. I'll try again this weekend.

I prefer the antique look with the movie reel over the bright pink/blue/yellow combo.

Thanks! I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

[stevearm]

I wish people would simply realize that what they think it beautiful is not necessarily what other people think is beautiful.

Well when 90% of this topic prefered the original icon, and one poster even avoided updating his app because he felt that strongly... maybe that should tell you something.

If it was 1 or 2 people on here disliking the new icon then of course you could ignore it and concentrate on those that like it.

But when the overwhelmind majority hate the new icon....?

[SwingOnThis]

No offense to anyone but you've got to be pretty stupid to think that a film reel looks like a goddamn pizza. I mean if you like movies enough to put that app on your phone, you should be able to identify a pic of a film reel. I guess it's just the younger, all-digital generation.

[Gokunama]

The new Gymgoal lite icon is alright, but I liked the old one a whole lot better.

And app icons can turn me off an app from buying an app, I may not even look at the app description if I don't like the icon at all. Dumb really...

[Metasyntactic]

Well when 90% of this topic prefered the original icon, and one poster even avoided updating his app because he felt that strongly... maybe that should tell you something.

Do you think he's the only one saying that he's not updating because of an icon?

I've already had to deal with tons of people saying they wouldn't use my app because of the old icon.

As i said before, my download rate has gone *up* since the change.

If it was 1 or 2 people on here disliking the new icon then of course you could ignore it and concentrate on those that like it.

But when the overwhelmind majority hate the new icon....?

The overwhelming majority do *not* hate the new icon. There are simply a dozen or so data points on *this* forum. I still ahve to deal with email (where i have nearly 15000 bits of feedback so far), my polls (which take 1000 random people and run things by them, my download statistics, and use all of that to come up with a decision.

If i changed back because of the people here and i suddently started getting the 5-10 hate mails a day about the old icon, then would you say it was a good idea?

No offense to anyone but you've got to be pretty stupid to think that a film reel looks like a goddamn pizza. I mean if you like movies enough to put that app on your phone, you should be able to identify a pic of a film reel. I guess it's just the younger, all-digital generation.

You know, attitudes like this are *really* disappointing.

The idea that just because someone doesn't like something you like, or does not recognize something immediately recognizable to you, that that means they're stupid is just bogus.

I have an app that is released *worldwide*. People grow up in different enviroments and have differing ideas about what things look like and what things mean. As i said before, the ticket motif is very iconic to me, but it turned out that tons and tons of people did not recognize is that way, and those that i explained it to said "none of my theater tickets ever look that way, and i've never seen a ticket like that".

You simply have to get over your own prejudices and beliefs about what people understand, and what they like. I'm sure there are many other people who like what you like (including, appearantly, me), but that does not mean that that applied to my entire userbase.

Again, this is the sort of destructive criticism that does not help at *all*.

If you do not like the icon, please work with me to come up with something that more people will like.

The new Gymgoal lite icon is alright, but I liked the old one a whole lot better.

And app icons can turn me off an app from buying an app, I may not even look at the app description if I don't like the icon at all. Dumb really...

Yes. Precisely. I got that sort of feedback all the time. People who simply wouldn't download my app becuse they didn't like the ticket icon, or that they removed it because it looked bad on their iPhone screens.

I decided to do something about it, and i thought i did it in a responsible manner. I talked to my customers, i tried out a bunch of options, i did polls, i was willing to overlook my own preferences. And, in the end, the result worked out for me. Sure... some people may not upgrade, and some people may not install the app. But the numbers have shown me that there were *more* people who were taking that action before when the app had the old icon.

So, again, to people complaining, why do you think this was a bad idea for me? And if you do not like the dcision, what is your solution?

Thanks!

--

BTW, my preferred solution would just be for apple to allow app authors to have multiple icons (like how iCal does it). Then i could just give you all the choice and you could switch back to the original icon. But since that's not within my control, i need an icon that pleases the *majority* of my customers and which displeases the *minority*. Certainly you can agree that that's better than the reverse right?

And even if you believe that people are dumb for not liking what you like, i'm sure that those same people were saying "how can anyone like this icon" when they were deleting or refusing to download my app. Why do you believe that i should give your preference more weight?

[stevearm]

Do you think he's the only one saying that he's not updating because of an icon?

I've already had to deal with tons of people saying they wouldn't use my app because of the old icon.

As i said before, my download rate has gone *up* since the change.


The overwhelming majority do *not* hate the new icon. There are simply a dozen or so data points on *this* forum. I still ahve to deal with email (where i have nearly 15000 bits of feedback so far), my polls (which take 1000 random people and run things by them, my download statistics, and use all of that to come up with a decision.

If i changed back because of the people here and i suddently started getting the 5-10 hate mails a day about the old icon, then would you say it was a good idea?

I suspect that if you did a poll, old icon vs new icon, the old one would win. Why don't you try doing that? Then we'll finally see what the majority prefer. And if they prefer the new one, then I will apologise, and concede that I was wrong.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I suspect that if you did a poll, old icon vs new icon, the old one would win. Why don't you try doing that? Then we'll finally see what the majority prefer. And if they prefer the new one, then I will apologise, and concede that I was wrong.

Does it really matter that much? Why not just leave it the way it is. Your convenience, extremely skewed sample of people can't be used as a statistic. So any data you've gathered (This thread, titled: App icons you wish they would change back) is completely useless.

Take a stats class maybe.

[icedmocha]

You know, attitudes like this are *really* disappointing.

The idea that just because someone doesn't like something you like, or does not recognize something immediately recognizable to you, that that means they're stupid is just bogus.

I have an app that is released *worldwide*. People grow up in different enviroments and have differing ideas about what things look like and what things mean. As i said before, the ticket motif is very iconic to me, but it turned out that tons and tons of people did not recognize is that way, and those that i explained it to said "none of my theater tickets ever look that way, and i've never seen a ticket like that".

You simply have to get over your own prejudices and beliefs about what people understand, and what they like. I'm sure there are many other people who like what you like (including, appearantly, me), but that does not mean that that applied to my entire userbase.

Again, this is the sort of destructive criticism that does not help at *all*.

If you do not like the icon, please work with me to come up with something that more people will like.
bravo, well stated.

[baseballdude345]

Facebook and Monkey Ball

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Facebook and Monkey Ball

I know the facebook app changed color slightly, but what changed about Monkey ball?

And what's your ish with Facebook's color?

[Jaaack]

I wish you could just change any of the icons/hide some of them and just have the names, but apple won't do that =P

Zym

If you jailbreak your ipod (1g touch right?) then download poof, and you can hide apps and also toggle names on or off

[Metasyntactic]

I suspect that if you did a poll, old icon vs new icon, the old one would win. Why don't you try doing that? Then we'll finally see what the majority prefer. And if they prefer the new one, then I will apologise, and concede that I was wrong.

You suspect *wrong*. I have done a poll already, and the old icon and several new icons were offered. And it was hte new icon that *won*.

I did that poll specifically because i wanted to know if i should:
a) change the icon
b) change the icon to any of the new ones that had been created

after all, if people didn't lke the old one, then i wouldn't want to replace it with something they'd like *less*.

--

And, *once again*, the feedback and download rates *as well as* the poll results, have shown that people prefer the new icon. I'm not sure how many times i can say this to you.

I am willing to try to make the icon better. But the idea that i should just go back, or that i should redo polls and whatnot for no reason whatsoever is not helpful at all.

[slapguts]

I liked the 'ticket' icon best. It was classy, like the velvet ropes in an old one-screen theater. An usher's uniform.

I don't hate the new icon, I just liked the old one better.


With all that being said, I'd like to add 'Now Playing' is a GREAT app. One of the first I installed, and the only app that has never left my phone. I don't think anyone posting in this thread would disagree with me. The fact that the MR community seems to feel so strongly about the icon is testament to that.

[WishIWasHere]

Metasyntactic, I'm curious if you checked the ages of the respondents when you were polling to see which icon was preferred. I'm amazed that you had so many complaints about the original icon, as I believe a beautiful icon is of secondary importance to a beautifully functional app. Given the apparent overwhelming preference on this forum for the old app, I'm wondering if it was one particular demographic who prefers the new one, teenagers maybe. After all, teenagers would generally be more unfamiliar with an 'old style' ticket stub, and much more likely to identify that film reel as a pizza. Just curious. On the bright side, image how many developers are out there who would LOVE for there to be a heated debate about which icon they should use for their very successful app. ;) If you already covered demographics, I apologize, I must have missed it, and clearly I'm too lazy to go back and check.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Metasyntactic, I'm curious if you checked the ages of the respondents when you were polling to see which icon was preferred. I'm amazed that you had so many complaints about the original icon, as I believe a beautiful icon is of secondary importance to a beautifully functional app. Given the apparent overwhelming preference on this forum for the old app, I'm wondering if it was one particular demographic who prefers the new one, teenagers maybe. After all, teenagers would generally be more unfamiliar with an 'old style' ticket stub, and much more likely to identify that film reel as a pizza. Just curious. On the bright side, image how many developers are out there who would LOVE for there to be a heated debate about which icon they should use for their very successful app. ;) If you already covered demographics, I apologize, I must have missed it, and clearly I'm too lazy to go back and check.

hahahahaha
The thread is titled "App icons you wish they would change back"
since Now Playing is a high profile app that has had an icon change no duh the majority in this thread are not going to like it! They sought the thread just to complain about it.

Jeeze, learn how to take an SRS.

[WishIWasHere]

Tuff Luff, other people on this thread have pointed out the same thing, so you can keep your negative comments to yourself. I kept my mouth shut when you made that dumbass comment about liking the new icon because '...the colors are fun', so you keep yours shut over my simple question to the developer.

Jeeze, learn how to not be a jerk.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Tuff Luff, other people on this thread have pointed out the same thing, so you can keep your negative comments to yourself. I kept my mouth shut when you made that dumbass comment about liking the new icon because '...the colors are fun', so you keep yours shut over my simple question to the developer.

Jeeze, learn how to not be a jerk.

Well you're basically asking: if the government should impose stronger regulations on gun use and purchasing... at an NRA meeting.

[maclover001]

Facebook and Air Sharing need to revert back to the old icons.

The new Facebook one is just lazy, and I just like the old AS one better.

[WishIWasHere]

Jesus Christ, TuffLuff, I understand the point you were making. I was asking you to take MY point, which is to not be such a nit picker. I even gave an example of how I didn't nit pick on your previous post? See how that works?

[stevearm]

hahahahaha
The thread is titled "App icons you wish they would change back"
since Now Playing is a high profile app that has had an icon change no duh the majority in this thread are not going to like it! They sought the thread just to complain about it.

Jeeze, learn how to take an SRS.

No... not everyone who comes on this thread will automatically hate the new Now Playing icon. There are plenty of people who came into this topic to say "I hate the new facebook icon"... and having seen the discussion about Now Playing, thought they'd share their feelings on that.

If I started a 'old Now playing app icon' vs 'new app icon' topic, the overwhelming majority will prefer the old one.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

No... not everyone who comes on this thread will automatically hate the new Now Playing icon. There are plenty of people who came into this topic to say "I hate the new facebook icon"... and having seen the discussion about Now Playing, thought they'd share their feelings on that.

If I started a 'old Now playing app icon' vs 'new app icon' topic, the overwhelming majority will prefer the old one.

Is that a fact? :rolleyes:

[Metasyntactic]

Metasyntactic, I'm curious if you checked the ages of the respondents when you were polling to see which icon was preferred. I'm amazed that you had so many complaints about the original icon, as I believe a beautiful icon is of secondary importance to a beautifully functional app. Given the apparent overwhelming preference on this forum for the old app, I'm wondering if it was one particular demographic who prefers the new one, teenagers maybe. After all, teenagers would generally be more unfamiliar with an 'old style' ticket stub, and much more likely to identify that film reel as a pizza. Just curious. On the bright side, image how many developers are out there who would LOVE for there to be a heated debate about which icon they should use for their very successful app. ;) If you already covered demographics, I apologize, I must have missed it, and clearly I'm too lazy to go back and check.Nope. I never checked the demographics beyond the country of origin. About 25% was US (the largest of any country), and the remaining 75% was from all the countries i have my app in. Now Playing works in 20 countries, with several more countries being worked on.

Cheers!


I kept my mouth shut when you made that dumbass comment about liking the new icon because '...the colors are fun',
You know, i've asked people to be helpful and constructive, and posts like these are not helping.

He is not a dumbass for liking the icon. He simply has different tastes than you. I really wish people could accept that that sometimes happens.

No... not everyone who comes on this thread will automatically hate the new Now Playing icon. There are plenty of people who came into this topic to say "I hate the new facebook icon"... and having seen the discussion about Now Playing, thought they'd share their feelings on that.

If I started a 'old Now playing app icon' vs 'new app icon' topic, the overwhelming majority will prefer the old one.

Steve, could you please try to be constructive. Instead of just trying to collect numbers on people who do/dont' lke the icon (which i already have), couldn't you focus your energy on improving the icon instead?

This is clearly something you feel strongly about, and i am giving you the power to improve things things here. I will even gladly poll another 1000 people to see how they feel about my current icon vs any improvements you are able to come up with. Feel free to modify my current icon, or come up with a new icon.

Note: just making a shiny version of the old icon is insufficient. I already have the data that shows that that wasn't what people wanted.

Thanks very much. I look forward to seeing what you can come up with!

[stevearm]

You know, i've asked people to be helpful and constructive, and posts like these are not helping.

He is not a dumbass for liking the icon. He simply has different tastes than you. I really wish people could accept that that sometimes happens.

Please stop acting so high and mighty.

And yes, funnily enough we understand the concept of differing opinions.

Steve, could you please try to be constructive. Instead of just trying to collect numbers on people who do/dont' lke the icon (which i already have), couldn't you focus your energy on improving the icon instead?

This is clearly something you feel strongly about, and i am giving you the power to improve things things here. I will even gladly poll another 1000 people to see how they feel about my current icon vs any improvements you are able to come up with. Feel free to modify my current icon, or come up with a new icon.

Note: just making a shiny version of the old icon is insufficient. I already have the data that shows that that wasn't what people wanted.

Thanks very much. I look forward to seeing what you can come up with!


And please stop asking us all to come up with something better. We are not graphic designers. We are giving you our opinion on the matter, and your instant reply of "Well let's see you do something better" is getting very tiresome. It is not up to US to make your life easier and design your icons for you. Your goal should be to collect information from your users, and pass that back on to your designer.

IF anyone here would like to have a go at designing it, great. But don't automatically EXPECT everyone to do it, because you can't accept just words and criticism.

[TheSpaz]

I went to college to study graphic design and I think I have a pretty good idea about what looks good and what looks bad. I must say, since Now Playing's icon has changed, I uninstalled it fromy iPhone. I don't like how it has a black border that blends into the black background and the colors look childish.

What do 1000 people know about good design anyway? Have you ever taken a look at myspace?

Anyways, if you want some tips on good icon design just look at Apple's native apps on the iPhone. They're simple and to the point and have a high quality feel to them. I wish more developers realized how important the icon and GUI is in their apps.

Just so you know, when I'm looking for a new app, I quickly skim the icon before reading about what the app does. If I see something I like, I'll take a look at the description and see if it's something I want. I have found that a high quality icon usually indicates a high quality app. I guess I just want my iPhone to look and feel the same as Apple's look and feel.

About Jaadu VNC: I hate black-on-black and the new icon doesn't even have a defining edge to it. It has gloss on top and gloss on bottom but the middle just disappears against that black background. If someone makes a VNC app with a better icon in the future, I won't think twice about switching.

[WishIWasHere]

You know, i've asked people to be helpful and constructive, and posts like these are not helping.

He is not a dumbass for liking the icon. He simply has different tastes than you. I really wish people could accept that that sometimes happens.

Okay, sorry if this bothers you, but the guy made a sarcastic comment about one of MY posts (like I said, one that was a simple question to you and had nothing to do with him), so I'm GOING to fire one back at him. I realize that's immature, but I guess that's okay once in a while. For the record, I didn't call HIM a dumbass, I didn't call it a dumbass opinion, I called it a dumbass comment, which it was. I had thought that the first time I read it, well before he called out my post. Like Stevearm said, we all understand the concept of different people having different opinions. Understand, I don't care if he likes the new icon. I don't care if more people prefer the new icon. More power to them and to you. All I really care about is getting a quality app. I believe a killer icon is just a bonus. I also think it's a shame that a developer has to spend so much time and energy worrying about an icon because so many people complain about it. Anybody who gripes and complains to a developer about an icon, has little right to gripe and complain about the app, because they are directly responsible for wasting the developer's time. I just came here to give my opinion, which in case it's been lost, is this : I prefer the original icon for the app Now Playing. Given that the new icon has been killed off and will not be revived, I think the new icon would look much, MUCH better with a single color rather than the multi colors. Everything else about the new icon looks fine to me. The only thing I don't like is the multi colors (end of opinion). I hope that the developer takes this into consideration, and I hope that a new single color icon will be adopted. Please, nobody call out my post again, because I'll have to respond, and the fact is that I don't really give a damn about this thread anymore.

[TheSpaz]

Okay, sorry if this bothers you, but the guy made a sarcastic comment about one of MY posts (like I said, one that was a simple question to you and had nothing to do with him), so I'm GOING to fire one back at him. I realize that's immature, but I guess that's okay once in a while. For the record, I didn't call HIM a dumbass, I didn't call it a dumbass opinion, I called it a dumbass comment, which it was. I had thought that the first time I read it, well before he called out my post. Like Stevearm said, we all understand the concept of different people having different opinions. Understand, I don't care if he likes the new icon. I don't care if more people prefer the new icon. More power to them and to you. All I really care about is getting a quality app. I believe a killer icon is just a bonus. I also think it's a shame that a developer has to spend so much time and energy worrying about an icon because so many people complain about it. Anybody who gripes and complains to a developer about an icon, has little right to gripe and complain about the app, because they are directly responsible for wasting the developer's time. I just came here to give my opinion, which in case it's been lost, is this : I prefer the original icon for the app Now Playing. Given that the new icon has been killed off and will not be revived, I think the new icon would look much, MUCH better with a single color rather than the multi colors. Everything else about the new icon looks fine to me. The only thing I don't like is the multi colors (end of opinion). I hope that the developer takes this into consideration, and I hope that a new single color icon will be adopted. Please, nobody call out my post again, because I'll have to respond, and the fact is that I don't really give a damn about this thread anymore.

Careful, I was just banned for 2 weeks for fighting with someone.

[Metasyntactic]

Please stop acting so high and mighty.

And yes, funnily enough we understand the concept of differing opinions.

A person who understands differing opinions would not call someone else a dumbass for having a different opinion than them.

I think I'm done with macrumors. There is simply too much anger here, and not enough desire to work together on a solution. I had hoped that we could have an actual constructive dialog that could lead to an improvement. That we could work together toward a solution that would make more customers happy. But I see that many just want to complain, abuse people, and not listen when actual data is provided.

If that's the attitude of people here, then I see no benefit in participating. I'm personally happy with the urrent situation. My download numbers are great and my hate mails have decreased dramatically. Given this outcome, and the abundance of snarkyness here, I will be sticking with what I have. I'm sorry a better resolution wasn't possible for those who preferred the old icon.

If anyone wants to continue discussing this in a civil manner, you can reach me at cyrusn@stwing.upenn.edu.

I look forward to hearing from you. Cheers!

[SFC Archer]

Well done you sniveling, whining babies! Now you have chased away a dedicated developer that always kept us updated and listened to user feedback. Meta has always taken care of posters here on Rumors and because of your selfish attitudes and tunnel visioned minds he is gone.

I do not blame him in the least...I get really tired of certain individuals saying this is messed up and that ain't right and blaming others for what they are so unhappy about. Sounds totally democratic and blaming Bush for everything and not giving recommendations or ideas on how to fix the situation.

I am totally disappointed in some of the arrogant posters in this thread and you know who you are...I think you owe Meta an apology and you need to try and open your feeble minds and understand his point of view...I know it will be difficult for you, but try. Quit being so hateful, rude and disrespectful and create samples to support your dislike or shut the HELL up!!! :mad::mad::mad::mad:

[stevearm]

Well done you sniveling, whining babies! Now you have chased away a dedicated developer that always kept us updated and listened to user feedback. Meta has always taken care of posters here on Rumors and because of your selfish attitudes and tunnel visioned minds he is gone.

I do not blame him in the least...I get really tired of certain individuals saying this is messed up and that ain't right and blaming others for what they are so unhappy about. Sounds totally democratic and blaming Bush for everything and not giving recommendations or ideas on how to fix the situation.

I am totally disappointed in some of the arrogant posters in this thread and you know who you are...I think you owe Meta an apology and you need to try and open your feeble minds and understand his point of view...I know it will be difficult for you, but try. Quit being so hateful, rude and disrespectful and create samples to support your dislike or shut the HELL up!!! :mad::mad::mad::mad:

Why would anyone owe him an apology?

Him telling us to open up Photoshop and design our own icon was getting very annoying. As far as I'm concerned we WERE having a good discussion on the icon, it's not our fault he runs away because he can't take criticism or when people don't bow down and spend time designing icons for him.

Every single person on this topic (apart from maybe 1) hates the new icon, and loved the original. We all told him why, he didn't agree, citing supposed polls and stats.

I went to college to study graphic design and I think I have a pretty good idea about what looks good and what looks bad. I must say, since Now Playing's icon has changed, I uninstalled it fromy iPhone. I don't like how it has a black border that blends into the black background and the colors look childish.

What do 1000 people know about good design anyway? Have you ever taken a look at myspace?

Anyways, if you want some tips on good icon design just look at Apple's native apps on the iPhone. They're simple and to the point and have a high quality feel to them. I wish more developers realized how important the icon and GUI is in their apps.

Just so you know, when I'm looking for a new app, I quickly skim the icon before reading about what the app does. If I see something I like, I'll take a look at the description and see if it's something I want. I have found that a high quality icon usually indicates a high quality app. I guess I just want my iPhone to look and feel the same as Apple's look and feel.

About Jaadu VNC: I hate black-on-black and the new icon doesn't even have a defining edge to it. It has gloss on top and gloss on bottom but the middle just disappears against that black background. If someone makes a VNC app with a better icon in the future, I won't think twice about switching.

I agree completely. Re: Jaadu, the defining edge is indeed gone and it looks terrible on the iPhone. Even the gloss is blurry and not sharp at all. You might be interested in this topic:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7177811

[WishIWasHere]

A person who understands differing opinions would not call someone else a dumbass for having a different opinion than them.

Again, I didn't call that guy a dumbass and I didn't say it was a dumbass opinion. I said it was a dumbass comment. It's not the same thing.

Careful, I was just banned for 2 weeks for fighting with someone.

I couldn't care less if they ban me. I really only come to this forum to check out the word on new apps. I've only posted a handful of times, so I guess it doesn't matter if they banned me for life. :)

[stevearm]

Not technically suited for this topic but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Zen Bound... fantastic app... terrible icon.

[Spartan12103]

Not technically suited for this topic but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Zen Bound... fantastic app... terrible icon.I think it's pretty good. I don't like the Four Free icon or any of those newer art styles, and I liked Tap Taps old colors better.

[anti-microsoft]

I think it's pretty good. I don't like the Four Free icon or any of those newer art styles, and I liked Tap Taps old colors better.

Have you seen the upcoming Tap Tap Revenge 2's icon?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3428/3277252656_1d766429c7_o.jpg

Ams.

[stevearm]

Have you seen the upcoming Tap Tap Revenge 2's icon?

[snip]

Ams.

I agree Tap Taps 1's old colours were much better, and I'm not really a fan of 2's icon either.

Zen Bound just doesn't look good in my opinion. It's slightly smaller than it needs to be, which is very noticeable and the lack of shine is a big shame.

[anti-microsoft]

I agree Tap Taps 1's old colours were much better, and I'm not really a fan of 2's icon either.

Zen Bound just doesn't look good in my opinion. It's slightly smaller than it needs to be, which is very noticeable and the lack of shine is a big shame.

I know it's a bit too busy and OTT

Ams.

[Night Spring]

When I get an app icon I don't like, I just find an icon I do like and edit the ipa file to replace it. People who like older icons of an app should just drag the old file out of the recycling bin and copy the old icon out of the ipa file and replace it into the new ipa file.

[TheSpaz]

When I get an app icon I don't like, I just find an icon I do like and edit the ipa file to replace it. People who like older icons of an app should just drag the old file out of the recycling bin and copy the old icon out of the ipa file and replace it into the new ipa file.

Can you please tell us how to do this and still be able to sync the app? If I replace the icon, my app will no longer sync with my device. Thank you!

[blained]

I currently have three apps in the app store. My most popular app FitPhone had the most issues with the icon. Here is the progression of my icons:

160199
original icon got several complaints

160200
switched mainly to try to get the point across that Fit Phone does more than weight training. We got nothing but complaints, for good reason

Finally got someone to design something for me and ended up with my current icon. This is the one on the phone and then the one in the app store:

160201

160202

I understand the need and want for really nice looking icons. I also think a lot of third party developers try their best but aren't graphic designers. I could get something even better than what I have but I would have to pay at least twice as much and there will still be people that don't like what I go with.

So cut Now Playing a break. The new icon isn't bad. It's definitely high quality and makes sense based on the what the app does. I sure don't think it's so bad that I would uninstall it. I wouldn't uninstall any application as good as Now Playing just because of the icon. I didn't like the change he made at first either because I didn't have a problem with the original one. But I understand making a change if you're getting flooded with emails about the icon.

And I ask people that contact me for help all the time. If you complain about icons for apps maybe you should try to make something better. It's not easy for me but for some people making icons seems to come very easily. If someone hated my icons and decided to make a new one, I would consider sending that person something in return, either cash or iTunes gift cards. I've sent several people iTunes gift cards for helping me out with issues and new features in my apps.

So if you have issues with icons, by all means send the developer an email. And if you can, send the developer a suggestion on how to improve it. I think most developers are open to all suggestions on how to improve their apps.

[Night Spring]

Can you please tell us how to do this and still be able to sync the app? If I replace the icon, my app will no longer sync with my device. Thank you!

Um, I have no idea, I've made all sorts of changes to ipa files, and I've never had them not sync to the device.

[TheSpaz]

Um, I have no idea, I've made all sorts of changes to ipa files, and I've never had them not sync to the device.

Then you've jailbroken and patched a file on the iPhone. Great. I was kinda hoping for some help for a non-jailbroken guy. Thanks anyway.

[Night Spring]

Then you've jailbroken and patched a file on the iPhone. Great. I was kinda hoping for some help for a non-jailbroken guy. Thanks anyway.

Hmmm. I didn't think you needed a jailbroken device to use this method, as I originally learned how to edit ipa files from someone else, for purposes not related to changing icons, and they never mentioned that the device needed to be jailbroken for the edited ipas to work. But I'm not about to unjailbreak my phone to test this theory, so I'm sorry if it really doesn't work for non-jb devices.

[TheSpaz]

Hmmm. I didn't think you needed a jailbroken device to use this method, as I originally learned how to edit ipa files from someone else, for purposes not related to changing icons, and they never mentioned that the device needed to be jailbroken for the edited ipas to work. But I'm not about to unjailbreak my phone to test this theory, so I'm sorry if it really doesn't work for non-jb devices.

Yeah sorry. There's no way to edit applications inside the ipa file and sync them to your iPhone without being jailbroken. If you make the tiniest change to a file, it won't pass the verification and therefore won't be installed. I've tried many times.

[SwingOnThis]

You know, attitudes like this are *really* disappointing.

The idea that just because someone doesn't like something you like, or does not recognize something immediately recognizable to you, that that means they're stupid is just bogus.

I have an app that is released *worldwide*. People grow up in different enviroments and have differing ideas about what things look like and what things mean. As i said before, the ticket motif is very iconic to me, but it turned out that tons and tons of people did not recognize is that way, and those that i explained it to said "none of my theater tickets ever look that way, and i've never seen a ticket like that".

You simply have to get over your own prejudices and beliefs about what people understand, and what they like. I'm sure there are many other people who like what you like (including, appearantly, me), but that does not mean that that applied to my entire userbase.

Again, this is the sort of destructive criticism that does not help at *all*.

If you do not like the icon, please work with me to come up with something that more people will like.

I wasn't trying to be critical of you at all. I love your app, and i understand why you changed the icon. My only point was that a film reel does not look anything like a pizza, unless you're pretty stupid.

[Jomskylark]

Ultimate Pick-Up Lines (UPL) - I really liked the old, angel like icon. One of the reasons I chose this app out of all of the other pick up lines app was for this icon.

[WhySoSerious]

I was actually trying out color combos after I saw the PSD. This was the best I could come up with tonight. I'll try again this weekend.

I prefer the antique look with the movie reel over the bright pink/blue/yellow combo.

awesome! much better than the 3rd grade looking app icon now (picking on the colors chosen).

suggestion to the developer of Now Playing. Keep the current icon, but take the guy above I quoted and apply his idea. SOFTEN up the colors. the ones you use are too bright and distracting/bold. soften the colors up.

[TheSpaz]

I just emailed this icon to the folks who make Jaadu VNC. I hope they like it.

It looks great on the home screen. It needs a border.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I just emailed this icon to the folks who make Jaadu VNC. I hope they like it.

It looks great on the home screen. It needs a border.

Oh god that's ugly as sin. Sure the new one isn't great because it fades into the background. but seriously? Maybe you should take a few more design courses.

[stevearm]

I just wish Jaadu would go back to the original icon they had at the very start. Yes it was black, but there was a faint outline which worked very well.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I just wish Jaadu would go back to the original icon they had at the very start. Yes it was black, but there was a faint outline which worked very well.

Steve why don't you jump down Spaz's throat like you did Metasyntactic's? You must admit that even if his idea was nice his execution was horribly hideous.

[TheSpaz]

Oh god that's ugly as sin. Sure the new one isn't great because it fades into the background. but seriously? Maybe you should take a few more design courses.

Hah! I'm trying to keep the icon's main theme with the transport portal or whatever. I just wanted more contrast around the edge. This icon at least stands out from the background instead of disappearing. By the way... the metal border was taken from a different icon set (I think Aqua by Louie Mantia). I don't think they'll use this icon... I just provided it as an example of how to make it separate from the background. Please don't treat me like I'm the culprit here... thanks.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Hah! I'm trying to keep the icon's main theme with the transport portal or whatever. I just wanted more contrast around the edge. This icon at least stands out from the background instead of disappearing. By the way... the metal border was taken from a different icon set (I think Aqua by Louie Mantia). I don't think they'll use this icon... I just provided it as an example of how to make it separate from the background. Please don't treat me like I'm the culprit here... thanks.

Well I think it's pretty sad that you
A: went to graphic design school and can't design a usable icon.
B: jumped down someone's throat and told them their icon was bad when you can't do any better.

PS: I'd uninstall Jaadu in an instant if they used your icon.

[TheSpaz]

Well I think it's pretty sad that you
A: went to graphic design school and can't design a usable icon.
B: jumped down someone's throat and told them their icon was bad when you can't do any better.

PS: I'd uninstall Jaadu in an instant if they used your icon.

Oh. So since I went to graphic design school means I'm a pro icon maker? It suits my tastes right now, so I'm content. I'm just not a fan of black-on-black.

For your information, I didn't go to interface design school. Why do you have such a big problem with me? I'm trying to provide something constructive to the developer of Jaadu and you jump down my throat?

I still prefer my icon over the borderless black-on-black.

PS: I don't understand what's so bad about it. It's almost exactly the same as the default Jaadu icon with a metal border around it. The iPhone has a metal border around it... even the Calculator icon has a metal border around it.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Oh. So since I went to graphic design school means I'm a pro icon maker? It suits my tastes right now, so I'm content. I'm just not a fan of black-on-black.

For your information, I didn't go to interface design school. Why do you have such a big problem with me? I'm trying to provide something constructive to the developer of Jaadu and you jump down my throat?

I still prefer my icon over the borderless black-on-black.

PS: I don't understand what's so bad about it. It's almost exactly the same as the default Jaadu icon with a metal border around it. The iPhone has a metal border around it... even the Calculator icon has a metal border around it.

It's still ugly as sin, and it's pretty funny that you can dish critical comments but you can't take them. :rolleyes:

PS: Just because it works in one place doesn't mean it will work in another. Jeeze!

[TheSpaz]

It's still ugly as sin, and it's pretty funny that you can dish critical comments but you can't take them. :rolleyes:

PS: Just because it works in one place doesn't mean it will work in another. Jeeze!

That's your opinion, but I think you're targeting the wrong person. I'm just trying to help man. Like I said before, I'm perfectly fine with the icon I made for now. I'm curious to see what the Jaadu people come up with.

[stevearm]

Why do people think that unless you have and can use Photoshop, you're not allowed to comment on an app icon?

Seriously, what's with all this "if you want to criticise, you do better"?

NO. Once something is online and part of a discussion forum, I'll criticise/praise anything I want, as I am entitled to, I don't NEED to be able to do better myself. I'm not a graphic designer.

And Spaz, TuffLuffJimmy would have said your icon was hideous even if you'd created the most beautiful design in the world. He/she is just trying to 'turn the tables on you' so to speak and see how you feel. :rolleyes:

[apporacle]

That's your opinion, but I think you're targeting the wrong person. I'm just trying to help man. Like I said before, I'm perfectly fine with the icon I made for now. I'm curious to see what the Jaadu people come up with.

As a part time iphone icon designer (and no that does not mean that my taste is any better than the taste of anyone else here at MR)

I would just like to say that your mockup is quite good. Of course the border has been used a lot lately but that it because it works. The Jaadu icon really needs some sort of border because right now it just blends in with the background, which I personally hate when icons do. This way makes it look a lot more balanced. Cudos!

If they ended up doing something like this one you made I would actually buy it, the icon has kept me from buying it so far.

[TheSpaz]

As a part time iphone icon designer (and no that does not mean that my taste is any better than the taste of anyone else here at MR)

I would just like to say that your mockup is quite good. Of course the border has been used a lot lately but that it because it works. The Jaadu icon really needs some sort of border because right now it just blends in with the background, which I personally hate when icons do. This way makes it look a lot more balanced. Cudos!

If they ended up doing something like this one you made I would actually buy it, the icon has kept me from buying it so far.

:D

[Metasyntactic]

Thought i wouldn't return. However, one of your members was gracious enough to create an icon for me. So i thought i'd let you weigh in on if it's good enough for your tastes.

Let us know.

http://metasyntactic.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/NowPlaying/Screenshots/IconTest-1.png

[Rayfire]

I wouldn't mind that icon above, it looks classical and I like it.

[TheSpaz]

Thought i wouldn't return. However, one of your members was gracious enough to create an icon for me. So i thought i'd let you weigh in on if it's good enough for your tastes.

Let us know.

It's better, but I still don't like it. Sorry, but that's my opinion. It also looks slightly off centered.

[Metasyntactic]

Ok. So far we're:

1 for it
1 against it

If we can get enough responses and we get near 85% then we'll do a poll of a larger group of people.

[Motley]

Ok. So far we're:

1 for it
1 against it

If we can get enough responses and we get near 85% then we'll do a poll of a larger group of people.

Put in in "for"

I have to complement you for coming back to this thread so much considering all you abuse you seem to be getting.

[Metasyntactic]

Put in in "for"

Sorry, not sure what you mean by that :)

[apporacle]

I like the basic idea of doing it is black/white, however I think that it is too dark in the upper left corner.

[SFC Archer]

Meta...thanks for coming back...maybe it will show some of the posters in this thread how much you really do care about your customers.

IMHO, I think the icon is just OK. It does represent the old black and white films which in turn fits your app. For me its not the icon that I care about...its the app itself. Wasting all of your precious time on an icon and worrying about a few is taking away from your work on the app itself and all the good things you have done with it so far.

My recommendation is to go with the majority from your surveys and move on to bigger and better things, you have lost to much time on this one thread and about a dozen posters.

I will always use your app no matter what the icon is! :D

[stevearm]

It's a bit too dark in the top left, but I like it a lot. 100x times better than the horrible one you have now.

When you do this poll, why not add the original design, the current one, and the above one. You've got nothing to lose, it'll give a good indication about how people think.

Oh and you really need to add a gloss effect to it. It would work much better with one.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

It's a bit too dark in the top left, but I like it a lot. 100x times better than the horrible one you have now.


Alright, we get that you don't like the current design. Can you please stop being so rude now and have a decent conversation?

[TheSpaz]

Alright, we get that you don't like the current design. Can you please stop being so rude now and have a decent conversation?

Yeah... I can't believe YOU'RE telling someone not to be rude when you called my icon design "ugly as sin"... hmm...

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Yeah... I can't believe YOU'RE telling someone not to be rude when you called my icon design "ugly as sin"... hmm...

Oh you spot a hypocrite, do you? :rolleyes:

[WishIWasHere]

I like that black and white Now Playing icon quite a lot.

[stevearm]

Alright, we get that you don't like the current design. Can you please stop being so rude now and have a decent conversation?

I've been having decent conversation all throughout this topic. You don't like it? Put me on your ignore list. For the record, I said that I liked his new design suggestion very much. How nice of you to casually ignore that.

Oh you spot a hypocrite, do you? :rolleyes:

Yup, he does. You.

[Doju]

I like it Spaz. Nice one!

[SwingOnThis]

Like the new one. Nice work.

[WhySoSerious]

Thought i wouldn't return. However, one of your members was gracious enough to create an icon for me. So i thought i'd let you weigh in on if it's good enough for your tastes.

Let us know.

http://metasyntactic.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/NowPlaying/Screenshots/IconTest-1.png

i really like this one! add some GLOSS to it though!

[Motley]

Sorry, not sure what you mean by that :)

Sorry, I meant put me in the "for it" category as opposed to "against it".

[Metasyntactic]

How about now:

I'm thinking of making the '3' a bit smaller, as well as trying to make it pop a bit more (it gets lost being 'black' on very dark grays).

http://metasyntactic.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/NowPlaying/Screenshots/IconTest-2.png

[TuffLuffJimmy]

How about now:

I'm thinking of making the '3' a bit smaller, as well as trying to make it pop a bit more (it gets lost being 'black' on very dark grays).

http://metasyntactic.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/NowPlaying/Screenshots/IconTest-2.png

It's nice, but no good can come from changing icons so often. It really confuses the user and won't give a very good experience.

[Metasyntactic]

It's nice, but no good can come from changing icons so often. It really confuses the user and won't give a very good experience.
Now i'm confused. It seemed like people started up this thread because they didn't like the icon and wanted something better. I'm not sure how to provide that without changing things.

I would prefer to wait to see if the current icon grows on people. However, from what some people have said here:

"Now Playing: new one is horrible"
"Couldn't agree more. I almost want to delete it from my phone, it's so bad..."
"I liked the original a lot, and pretty much hate the new one."
"Please stop acting so high and mighty."
"because you can't accept just words and criticism."
"he runs away because he can't take criticism"
"better than the horrible one you have now."

it seems like they will not like the current icon no matter what. My hope is to be able to come up with something with their help that they can end up appreciating and feeling involved with.

Do you have an idea about how i can make things better for the people here who are giving me feedback as well as the people who didn't like the first icon i made?

Thanks!

[ZuneMan?]

The old iBowl was way better.

[Rayfire]

Now i'm confused. It seemed like people started up this thread because they didn't like the icon and wanted something better. I'm not sure how to provide that without changing things.

I would prefer to wait to see if the current icon grows on people. However, from what some people have said here:

"Now Playing: new one is horrible"
"Couldn't agree more. I almost want to delete it from my phone, it's so bad..."
"I liked the original a lot, and pretty much hate the new one."
"Please stop acting so high and mighty."
"because you can't accept just words and criticism."
"he runs away because he can't take criticism"
"better than the horrible one you have now."

it seems like they will not like the current icon no matter what. My hope is to be able to come up with something with their help that they can end up appreciating and feeling involved with.

Do you have an idea about how i can make things better for the people here who are giving me feedback as well as the people who didn't like the first icon i made?

Thanks!
Give it time, I think the 5% will slowly diminish and become 3%, then 1% then mostly will be appreciative of the icon ;) Like you said, most of us here are just part of the 5%. I'm pretty sure that if you are gonna change your icon, a "small percentage" of your users will give you negative feedback on it no matter what. Let time do the magic for you...

[Zincous]

Ok I just read this thread. Mad props to Metasyntactic :cool:

You put up with a lot of crap I must say, and kept your cool way better than expected. Very high respect for you. And great app.

I'm staying neutral on opinions about the icons though. Don't wanna get jumped on about something I say that is against other users opinions.
But I will use the app no matter what the icon is.

Thanks for your participation and responses here at MacRumors.

[WhySoSerious]

How about now:

I'm thinking of making the '3' a bit smaller, as well as trying to make it pop a bit more (it gets lost being 'black' on very dark grays).

http://metasyntactic.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/NowPlaying/Screenshots/IconTest-2.png

your current icon sucks. sorry, it's just doesn't look like it symbolizes "film".

use the one above....add some gloss.......leave the colors and size of the "3" alone. it looks great the way it is. if you fudge w/ it too much, you'll wind up screwing it up like your current icon.......with all sorts of bright, crayola colors.

[stevearm]

Amazing how everyone hates the current icon, people on here wouldn't be complaining if you'd stuck with the original. And to answer the question about constantly changing app icons... it isn't ideal no, hence why I was suggesting you go back to the original and add a gloss to it.

The above is good though, 10x better than the current. And keep the 3 exactly as it is, don't change a thing. It's perfect like that. You don't need it to be in your face.

[TheSpaz]

Developers should ask themselves: "How would Apple design the icon for this app?" and if you come up with some funky design that doesn't "look right" next to an Apple icon, then you know you've gotta do something about that. I think the BEST icons out there are the most simple. The less cluttered you make the icon, the better it's going to look. I hate it when people try to put so much into an icon that when it's shrunken down to iPhone size, you can't tell what the heck it is. I love BeeJive IM's icon... it's so simple, yet looks very good on the iPhone. Things is another icon I like. People should be following Apple's example when thinking about icons.... afterall, they have to live together... so they should look good together.

[Metasyntactic]

Amazing how everyone hates the current icon, people on here wouldn't be complaining if you'd stuck with the original.

I don't have the benefit of being omniscient. I could only go with what polls and users were telling me.

You say that people here wouldn't be complaining. That's true. But my download rate would also be 25% less. So i think it was worth it.

And to answer the question about constantly changing app icons... it isn't ideal no, hence why I was suggesting you go back to the original and add a gloss to it.

As i mentioned earlier in the thread, this was an option that was provided to people. It got less voted than the actual original ticket icon.

The above is good though, 10x better than the current. And keep the 3 exactly as it is, don't change a thing. It's perfect like that. You don't need it to be in your face.
I will do another poll. One that is available to all NowPlaying customers (it'll be in the next version of NowPlaying).

Based on the results of that, i will decide where to go.

The results will be public and i will point you at the site when it's ready to go.

[SFC Archer]

I don't have the benefit of being omniscient. I could only go with what polls and users were telling me.

You say that people here wouldn't be complaining. That's true. But my download rate would also be 25% less. So i think it was worth it.

As i mentioned earlier in the thread, this was an option that was provided to people. It got less voted than the actual original ticket icon.

I will do another poll. One that is available to all NowPlaying customers (it'll be in the next version of NowPlaying).

Based on the results of that, i will decide where to go.

The results will be public and i will point you at the site when it's ready to go.

Super idea!!! I look forward to it and the results! Maybe it will show some of the know it all's that they don't know everything and see first hand what you have been trying to say all along. Fan-boys are not always right and should look outside the tunnel vision that they place themselves in. OH...and by the way...This app is STILL FREE and he is doing this for all of you that are unhappy and gains no monetary advantage from catering to those that just don't get it. Amazing

I support you all the way and look forward to the next update and the winning icon!

Seeing the method/poll layout below is outstanding and would love to see others use the same methodology to poll their users for changes. Very ingenious!!!

[Metasyntactic]

Ok, here's what the voting screens look like:

http://metasyntactic.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/NowPlaying/Screenshots/Vote1.png http://metasyntactic.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/NowPlaying/Screenshots/Vote2.png

Note: the order of the icons is random for each person. That way no icon is unfairly biased toward because it shows up first/second/third.

People are prevented from voting multiple times by way of IP address (and are informed of this if they try to vote twice).

When users download hte update, they'll be offered this screen once automatically. If they chose not to vote, then they can vote later by going to the settings page.

The values there were inputted when i was testing. I've reset all the counters to 0 and i will not be participating in the vote myself.

Hopefully this will provide valuable data.

On top of this, users will be able to see exactly how their peers are voting. If they then see that there is a large group of people that likes a different icon than their preference, then maybe they'll be open to accepting the final decision that is made.

I certainly hope that that will be the case for the posters here in MacRumors.

[cellocello]

Don't sweat it Metasyntactic.

I think you're doing a great job, and I for one like the new icon! Keep up the good work!

[TheSpaz]

After seeing your grayscale icon, I prefer the current colorful icon. My all time favorite icon for this app was the original.

[Metasyntactic]

Developers should ask themselves: "How would Apple design the icon for this app?" and if you come up with some funky design that doesn't "look right" next to an Apple icon, then you know you've gotta do something about that.
Agreed. Interestingly enough, this was my intent with the ticket icon. However, a lot of the complaints were from people saying that it didn't 'look right' next to the apple icons. That it stood out and was garish.

So it's hard to tell what's good and what's bad? Is it bad when you hve 5000 people going out of your way to say that they don't like the icon? Well... IMO it depends. If you 1 million pieces of feedback... probably not. But when you have less than 15k total bits of feedback about your app, that changes things quite a bit.

What i've learned from this experience is that when you're making an icon, you must be very careful to understand the global audience that you will be targeting. While the ticket/film-reel seems to be mostly accepted in the states, it has significant problems in the rest of the world. I never even considered this sort of issue since those symbols are totally iconic to me. (Though i guess i should have realized it so you don't really see it in any other apps anywhere). I thought it was clever going down this route. But, by trying to be unique and witty, i ended up doing more harm than good.

I really wish that apple would ease up a bit on applications. They have apps that change icons, and i really wish they'd let us do the same. Then i could just provide all these apps, and have a best of both worlds situation.

[TheSpaz]

Agreed. Interestingly enough, this was my intent with the ticket icon. However, a lot of the complaints were from people saying that it didn't 'look right' next to the apple icons. That it stood out and was garish.

So it's hard to tell what's good and what's bad? Is it bad when you hve 5000 people going out of your way to say that they don't like the icon? Well... IMO it depends. If you 1 million pieces of feedback... probably not. But when you have less than 15k total bits of feedback about your app, that changes things quite a bit.

What i've learned from this experience is that when you're making an icon, you must be very careful to understand the global audience that you will be targeting. While the ticket/film-reel seems to be mostly accepted in the states, it has significant problems in the rest of the world. I never even considered this sort of issue since those symbols are totally iconic to me. (Though i guess i should have realized it so you don't really see it in any other apps anywhere). I thought it was clever going down this route. But, by trying to be unique and witty, i ended up doing more harm than good.

I really wish that apple would ease up a bit on applications. They have apps that change icons, and i really wish they'd let us do the same. Then i could just provide all these apps, and have a best of both worlds situation.

Your original idea with the ticket was clever and unique. I think even once you had rounded corners... I like the rounded corners version the best. To me, it looked as if Apple made the icon... it's simple... it's stylish and it's not too flashy. The fact is, how many people actually KNOW what is a good design and what is a bad design? I don't think you can ask your customer what design to use? Do other brands in the real world do that? Basically, when you're making an icon, make sure you're satisfied with it. There's a lot of people out there with bad tastes... it doesn't mean you have to give in to those people.

One thing that I'm really hoping Apple does is give it's users the ability to change app icons themselves (like we can in OS X). If someone doesn't like the icon of your App, they can just change it in iTunes to what they DO like, and we'd be all set. I purposely do not buy an App if I don't like the icon... just because it's not something that can easily be changed by the user. In OS X, who cares what the icon looks like because you have 1 of 2 choices you can make. You can hide the app in your Applications folder and only run it when you need to, or you can change the icon in the Finder and stick it in your Dock. I hate how closed the iPhone is.

That reminds me... Apple should do some Human Interface Guidelines for the iPhone OS like they did with Mac OS X.

[Metasyntactic]

Your original idea with the ticket was clever and unique. I think even once you had rounded corners...

I never had rounded corners.

I like the rounded corners version the best. To me, it looked as if Apple made the icon... it's simple... it's stylish and it's not too flashy. The fact is, how many people actually KNOW what is a good design and what is a bad design?

What does that matter to me? If my download rats suffer because of it then i'm not giving customers what they want.

I could have the most beautifully crafted icon in the world, but if all my customers don't appreciate it and use another app, then i've gained nothing.

I don't think you can ask your customer what design to use?

Why not? It worked before. I asked my customers, they picked an icon, i switched to the icon, my downloads went up.

Do other brands in the real world do that? Basically, when you're making an icon, make sure you're satisfied with it. There's a lot of people out there with bad tastes... it doesn't mean you have to give in to those people.

I am satisfied with the icon.

One thing that I'm really hoping Apple does is give it's users the ability to change app icons themselves (like we can in OS X). If someone doesn't like the icon of your App, they can just change it in iTunes to what they DO like, and we'd be all set. I purposely do not buy an App if I don't like the icon...

Now i'm confused. You say i don't need to give into people who don't like my icon. But then you say that if i don't give into your tastes then you won't download my app. I'm getting conflicting messages here.

just because it's not something that can easily be changed by the user. In OS X, who cares what the icon looks like because you have 1 of 2 choices you can make. You can hide the app in your Applications folder and only run it when you need to, or you can change the icon in the Finder and stick it in your Dock. I hate how closed the iPhone is.

That reminds me... Apple should do some Human Interface Guidelines for the iPhone OS like they did with Mac OS X.Um. They do. THey have lots of them. And they're unbelievably annoying.

I've had my app killed on numerous occasions because of graphics/icons that i've used *inside* my app. For example, using the film real, or the spotlights on my tabs.

Nothing like waiting 3 weeks, then having your app killed because someone at apple doesn't like an icon. Then you send it through again, and hope that this time around they won't bump you back another 3 weeks.

On top of that, apple often kill updates because your app "might" do something that "might" confuse people. Of course, they don't accept if you've actually done usability studies, or verified that there is no actual confusion to be concerned about. Once they've decide the potential exists, you must change your app, or you will not be allowed in the store. There is no arbitration, no ability to say "in fact, i did consider that, and it's taken care of", no compromise. It's Apple's way or the highway (even if Apple's way is far inferior).

For example, Apple wanted me to make many of the messages in my app model. For example, when movie data was done downloading, you'd get a model dialog saying that it was done. This, to me, is godawful. So, what do i do? I submit a version to apple that behaves that way if the date is earlier than a specific date. Then, once that date is passed, it reverts to the appropriate behavior. This allows me to get by their asinine and altogether broken rules, while still giving users a good experience.

[Metasyntactic]

Ha. Humorous results so far. My beta testers have been trying out hte latest build. Currently the stats are at:

2 votes for the ticket
16 votes for the colorful film icon
1 vote for the black and white icon

Obviously i'm not going to go on 19 votes alone. But i did find this rather funny :)

[big-blue-wolf]

I've just read through this thread and can't believe that people have been giving the developer of Now Playing such a hard time about the icon. He has worked hard on the App and also has taken the time to get feedback from 1000 customers from all around the world. That, to me, is dedication to getting his App right.

Personally, I like the colours and style of the original red icon but dislike the inverse cut corners. It may look like an old fashioned cinema ticket (yes I am old enough to remember) but I think all icons should have rounded corners like Apple's icons. Not having rounded corners on its icon is one reason why I took the Speedtest App off my touch.

As for the latest icon, I like it but think it would look better with more muted colours.

But the monochrome icon is my favourite.

So, to me, all three icons have their merits and bad points so what it the developer to do?

[Metasyntactic]

Ok. I've submitted my build to apple. Hopefully they'll release it without incident.

Once it's out there, please vote and make your voice heard with the rest of the community. I look forward to seeing the final tallies.

[Rayfire]

Ha. Humorous results so far. My beta testers have been trying out hte latest build. Currently the stats are at:

2 votes for the ticket
16 votes for the colorful film icon
1 vote for the black and white icon

Obviously i'm not going to go on 19 votes alone. But i did find this rather funny :)

Ok. I've submitted my build to apple. Hopefully they'll release it without incident.

Once it's out there, please vote and make your voice heard with the rest of the community. I look forward to seeing the final tallies.

Most likely, more votes will be for the colorful film icon .. that's my assumption ;)

Thanks Meta for being such a great listener, kudos to you and your app as always!

[Metasyntactic]

How long do you think i should wait before making a decision? I'm thinking about a month or 100,000 votes, whichever comes first. Does that seem reasonable to you?

[SFC Archer]

How long do you think i should wait before making a decision? I'm thinking about a month or 100,000 votes, whichever comes first. Does that seem reasonable to you?

I think that is more then enough. I think that if they approve this week that you should just run the survey until 31 March (3 weeks at a minimum). Don't end on 1 April as everyone will say your pulling their leg with it being April Fools day.

I think 3 weeks from iTunes release date is sufficient...use time not number of voters.

Good Luck and I look forward to casting my vote!

[Metasyntactic]

I think that is more then enough. I think that if they approve this week that you should just run the survey until 31 March (3 weeks at a minimum). Don't end on 1 April as everyone will say your pulling their leg with it being April Fools day.

I think 3 weeks from iTunes release date is sufficient...use time not number of voters.

Good Luck and I look forward to casting my vote!
That would make sense. Once it is released, i'll update the tallies here daily (if i remember ;-) ).

[Rayfire]

That would make sense. Once it is released, i'll update the tallies here daily (if i remember ;-) ).

We'll look forward to the results then :D
and yes I second the 3-week duration.

[WhySoSerious]

if i were you, i'd first change the icon back to the original ticket you had. then, run this voting poll for 4 years. after that time, whichever icon wins, use that icon.

good luck!

[distinctweb]

It's great to see you added a poll to the next update, but I really would avoid switching the icon again. I'm not a fan of the colorful one, but I at least now look for it when going to launch the app. Changing it again, after only a few weeks is a pretty abrupt change and really only impacts the people currently using your app - the ones you should care about most.

[Metasyntactic]

if i were you, i'd first change the icon back to the original ticket you had. then, run this voting poll for 4 years. after that time, whichever icon wins, use that icon.

Why would that be better than picking the icon that people like the most?

[Metasyntactic]

It's great to see you added a poll to the next update, but I really would avoid switching the icon again. I'm not a fan of the colorful one, but I at least now look for it when going to launch the app. Changing it again, after only a few weeks is a pretty abrupt change and really only impacts the people currently using your app - the ones you should care about most.
Would you think it would be worse to let people vote and then ignore the majority that wants something?

[steventsmith]

Would you think it would be worse to let people vote and then ignore the majority that wants something?

Hi Cyrus,

Forgive me for adding my 2¢ but I think your original "ADMIT ONE" ticket icon was the best, and looks the nicest on my SpringBoard beside my other apps. It was clever, and its different shape stood out.

Also to remember is that the tiniest fraction of users can be the most vocal - so don't let them hold you for ransom. Trust in your own decisions :)

That being said, the new icon has no flare; it's just another generic App Store app icon. The old one had style, good design and was great for branding purposes. Unfortunately, from what you said, your users forced you into using a lesser design, which is sad :(

[Metasyntactic]

Hi Cyrus,

Forgive me for adding my 2¢ but I think your original "ADMIT ONE" ticket icon was the best, and looks the nicest on my SpringBoard beside my other apps. It was clever, and its different shape stood out.

Also to remember is that the tiniest fraction of users can be the most vocal - so don't let them hold you for ransom. Trust in your own decisions :)

That being said, the new icon has no flare; it's just another generic App Store app icon. The old one had style, good design and was great for branding purposes. Unfortunately, from what you said, your users forced you into using a lesser design, which is sad :(

Unfortunately, an NDA i have with apple prevents me from being able to talk about that original icon. I liked it a lot too though :(

[TheSpaz]

Unfortunately, an NDA i have with apple prevents me from being able to talk about that original icon. I liked it a lot too though :(

Umm... Apple removed the NDA from talking about the App Store. You just can't talk about unreleased Apple Firmware.

http://www.macgeekery.com/column/eloquent_apathy/apple_removes_iphone_sdk_nda

[SFC Archer]

Umm... Apple removed the NDA from talking about the App Store. You just can't talk about unreleased Apple Firmware.

http://www.macgeekery.com/column/eloquent_apathy/apple_removes_iphone_sdk_nda

Spaz...if you remember (or maybe you don't) Now Playing was removed from the iTunes store in its early beginnings for unspecified reasons. It was unavailable for a few months. This NDA is what I am sure he is referring to. Don't assume you know what he has been through or can and can't do. You were not part of that incident and therefore do not know what he can and can't say in reference to Now Playing and the associated icon.

Cyrus...You are doing the right thing. Your survey is appropriate and will give you the information required. The individuals here that keep criticizing your reasons, operations and choices are no threat to you. There are only a dozen at the most that just can't seem to stop hounding you and it is getting pretty annoying. The way I look at is...They have PURCHASED your App already, so you have nothing to lose if they delete it from their iPhone because they don't like the icon. If they are willing to lose the great functionality given by your app over a little square picture then you should not concern yourself. Its their loss, not yours...you already got their money! Let these individuals go and move on to bigger and better things, let the dandruff float away. Stay focused on your business and its continued success and disregard this mosquito type annoyance.

IMO your on track...Good Job...Keep up the great work.

[TheSpaz]

Spaz...if you remember (or maybe you don't) Now Playing was removed from the iTunes store in its early beginnings for unspecified reasons. It was unavailable for a few months. This NDA is what I am sure he is referring to. Don't assume you know what he has been through or can and can't do. You were not part of that incident and therefore do not know what he can and can't say in reference to Now Playing and the associated icon.

I wasn't assuming anything. I didn't know if he knew about that NDA being lifted. I thought he was referring to the original ticket icon that he used to have. I didn't know he was referring to the reason Apple pulled his app.

[Metasyntactic]

Umm... Apple removed the NDA from talking about the App Store. You just can't talk about unreleased Apple Firmware.

http://www.macgeekery.com/column/eloquent_apathy/apple_removes_iphone_sdk_nda
This is not the appstore NDA.

[Metasyntactic]

I wasn't assuming anything. I didn't know if he knew about that NDA being lifted.

I knew about that. Thanks :)

I thought he was referring to the original ticket icon that he used to have.

Yup, i was.

I didn't know he was referring to the reason Apple pulled his app.
I can't talk about that, or the original icon. They're covered by that NDA. Sucky, but what can you do?

[cellocello]

I'm sure NDA is just something along the lines of -

Apple - "Don't use weird shaped icons. Even simple inverted corners."
Devs - "Okay"
Apple - "Oh, and don't tell anyone we're being so strict about this"
Devs - "No problemo"

[IronWaffle]

Cyrus...You are doing the right thing. Your survey is appropriate and will give you the information required. The individuals here that keep criticizing your reasons, operations and choices are no threat to you. [...] If they are willing to lose the great functionality given by your app over a little square picture then you should not concern yourself. Its their loss, not yours [...], let the dandruff float away. Stay focused on your business and its continued success and disregard this mosquito type annoyance.

IMO your on track...Good Job...Keep up the great work.

Agreed. Wait... but that makes me dandruff or a mosquito?

Thanks, Cyrus -- you made it easier for me to find Watchmen on IMAX this weekend. Oh, and you're still on my front screen (even if my dandruffy, blood-suckin' eyes have to squint;))

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Alright so the new icon is winning by a ridiculous landslide in the polls.

OP, will you shut your face now?

[Metasyntactic]

Interesting stats so far:

http://stwing.upenn.edu/~cyrusn/blog/pictures/boxoffice/voting/Vote-3:11:09.png

First, it's more than double the number of votes i was able to get the first time around.

Second, the colored film icon isn't doing as well as my initial poll. But i assume it gets more accurate with higher numbers.

Third, the ticket icon is in *last* place. I wasn't sure how it would be viewed wrt to the black/white one, but apparently it's the least popular design by far.

[Metasyntactic]

I'm sure NDA is just something along the lines of -

Apple - "Don't use weird shaped icons. Even simple inverted corners."
Devs - "Okay"
Apple - "Oh, and don't tell anyone we're being so strict about this"
Devs - "No problemo"

Branding was included in the NDA. Sorry.

[Zincous]

Way more votes since your post about 20 min ago....

Although the result are pretty much the same. Around 3200 votes total so far.
These are good stats.

[TheSpaz]

Way more votes since your post about 20 min ago....

Although the result are pretty much the same. Around 3200 votes total so far.
These are good stats.

I'm going to keep voting for the icon I like. Just get a new IP address and you can vote for as many times as you want!

Since cellular IP addresses are changing all the time, you can vote for an infinite number of times. Just switch 3G off and on again and you'll have a new IP address... or drive around.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I'm going to keep voting for the icon I like. Just get a new IP address and you can vote for as many times as you want!

Since cellular IP addresses are changing all the time, you can vote for an infinite number of times. Just switch 3G off and on again and you'll have a new IP address... or drive around.

Thanks for not trying to skew the data :rolleyes: and making any info gathered useless.

[TheSpaz]

Thanks for not trying to skew the data :rolleyes: and making any info gathered useless.

You're welcome. I can tell already that the red icon isn't going to win anyways, so what's the point?

[Metasyntactic]

You're welcome. I can tell already that the red icon isn't going to win anyways, so what's the point?

The point is to accurately try to get a sense of what people want. When you skew the results you make that more difficult. The point of this was to have a communication with teh community and figure out where we should go from here. Why would you try to mess with that? How does that benefit you, or me, or the rest of customers, are MacRumors?

[TheSpaz]

The point is to accurately try to get a sense of what people want. When you skew the results you make that more difficult. The point of this was to have a communication with teh community and figure out where we should go from here. Why would you try to mess with that? How does that benefit you, or me, or the rest of customers, are MacRumors?

Relax dude. I don't care enough about your App to keep voting. I voted about 5 or 6 times but, that's not going to change the results. The final icon will be the one with the play button in the middle and I won't be able to skew it enough to change that.

[Metasyntactic]

Day 1 complete. Not as many votes as i would have liked. The current icon has grown in popularity (above 74%). I'm wondering what effect the black/white icon is having. Based on my initial poll, i'm guessing it's stealing votes away from both other icons.

http://stwing.upenn.edu/~cyrusn/blog/pictures/boxoffice/voting/Vote-3:12:09.png

I think over the weekend i'll hopefully get the 100k goal. There are usually a lot of people upgrading at that time as well as using NowPlaying to find movies.

I still find it very interesting that the original icon is the least favorite, but it has some incredibly vocal people. Oh well, at least people are passionate :)

[anti-microsoft]

This thread has gone a bit off topic...

I WANT TRISM TO CHANGE BACK! I MEAN WTF WITH THE BLACK BACKGROUND?!?!??!

Ams.

[Metasyntactic]

End of day two:

http://stwing.upenn.edu/~cyrusn/blog/pictures/boxoffice/voting/Vote-3:13:09.png

I'm now about 50k votes (half way there!) with >75% in favor of the new icon. I'm guessing that as the international crowd started upgrading that that started pulling the icon upwards. I wish i'd had the poll record what country people had their iPhones set to.

The weekend will probably be a larger influx of votes. I'll wait until that's over before deciding what to do.

[TheSpaz]

End of day two:

http://stwing.upenn.edu/~cyrusn/blog/pictures/boxoffice/voting/Vote-3:13:09.png

I'm now about 50k votes (half way there!) with >75% in favor of the new icon. I'm guessing that as the international crowd started upgrading that that started pulling the icon upwards. I wish i'd had the poll record what country people had their iPhones set to.

The weekend will probably be a larger influx of votes. I'll wait until that's over before deciding what to do.

Looks like I won't be installing your app anymore. Thanks for the poll though.

[Metasyntactic]

Looks like I won't be installing your app anymore. Thanks for the poll though.

No problem! Wish i could do more to help you out*!

BTW, if you get a moment, i'd appreciate it if you could leave a (small) review on the iTunes appstore. Data licenses are very expensive (and i make no money off of NowPlaying). However, with good reviews, i'm able to negotiate the licenses to lower rates that are far more affordable. So positive reviews help keep NowPlaying free (and ad-free). I'd like to keep things that way as much as possible, so i truly appreciate your help here!

-- Cyrus

--

* BTW, if you're an app developer, you're welcome to download my source code and compile it with the icon you want. It costs $99 to apple to be a developer, but it would let you customize things to your preferences.

[Metasyntactic]

Note: you can find the source code for my applications here:
http://code.google.com/p/metasyntactic/source/browse/#svn/trunk

It is apache licensed, so you can pretty much do anything you'd like with it.

If you need any instructions on building (or anything else), please feel free to ask. I hope that this helps!

It's also only about 50k lines of code for NowPlaying. if anyone wants to help me hack on it, i'd love your help.

Cheers!

[Zincous]

This thread has gone a bit off topic...

I WANT TRISM TO CHANGE BACK! I MEAN WTF WITH THE BLACK BACKGROUND?!?!??!

Ams.

That's what the Trism icon used to be originally. Then once the app store came around, had to put the blue one for apple. Apple has since loosened their restrictions on that, so the dev put it back to the original.

I like it with just the icon and blended in background. It doesn't match my other icons, but that's not much of a big deal.

[TheSpaz]

That's what the Trism icon used to be originally. Then once the app store came around, had to put the blue one for apple. Apple has since loosened their restrictions on that, so the dev put it back to the original.

I like it with just the icon and blended in background. It doesn't match my other icons, but that's not much of a big deal.

I'm with ya. I don't like black icons on a black background. It just looks dumb to me.

[Metasyntactic]

End of day 3:

http://stwing.upenn.edu/~cyrusn/blog/pictures/boxoffice/voting/Vote-3:14:09.png

At this point i'm thinking that there's not much hope for the ticket. It might come in second place if things swing around for it. However, i don't think first place is reachable at this point. We've gone around the planet 3 times now and seen fairly consistent voting throughout. The current icon started out lower but has been steadily inching higher. (maybe the early adopters are more passionate about the original icon? can't really tell).

We're at 75k votes, so i think by monday we'll be at the 100k level necessary. Is that acceptable for the posters here?

[Metasyntactic]

Wow. Now i'm getting people posting low review scores and claiming the votes are rigged. What compels someone to do this? They could contact me using the link in iTunes or just using the button in my app. But nope. Even after i open up a vote to everyone so that htey can say what they want and see what everyone else wants, some people just go and ignore all that and leave a low review. For what? Spite? Are they mad that i made this free app for them, continued to improve it, and then ended up with an *icon* that doesn't please them?

This is really what development is about??

It makes me angry that i even bother continually trying to make my app better for people and that i spend the time on this project at all.

[TheSpaz]

Wow. Now i'm getting people posting low review scores and claiming the votes are rigged. What compels someone to do this? They could contact me using the link in iTunes or just using the button in my app. But nope. Even after i open up a vote to everyone so that htey can say what they want and see what everyone else wants, some people just go and ignore all that and leave a low review. For what? Spite? Are they mad that i made this free app for them, continued to improve it, and then ended up with an *icon* that doesn't please them?

This is really what development is about??

It makes me angry that i even bother continually trying to make my app better for people and that i spend the time on this project at all.

I kinda think you should have just left the ticket icon and didn't change it in the first place. What do your customers know about good design? I think it's great that you're trying to be apart of your community by giving the people what they want, but I don't think posting a poll is the way to do that. You also have to remember that just because they're your users doesn't make them design experts.

I'm a fan of the ticket icon, but if you just rounded the corners and gave it gloss, it would've been fine.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I kinda think you should have just left the ticket icon and didn't change it in the first place. What do your customers know about good design? I think it's great that you're trying to be apart of your community by giving the people what they want, but I don't think posting a poll is the way to do that. You also have to remember that just because they're your users doesn't make them design experts.

I'm a fan of the ticket icon, but if you just rounded the corners and gave it gloss, it would've been fine.

Do you not get that he HAD to change from the ticket icon?

[Metasyntactic]

I kinda think you should have just left the ticket icon and didn't change it in the first place. What do your customers know about good design?

I'm not sure why that matters. As i said earlier, it could have the best design in the world, but if people hate it, then that doesn't help me.

I think it's great that you're trying to be apart of your community by giving the people what they want, but I don't think posting a poll is the way to do that. You also have to remember that just because they're your users doesn't make them design experts.

I'm a fan of the ticket icon, but if you just rounded the corners and gave it gloss, it would've been fine.
As i also mentioned earlier, this was an option in the original poll, it also was vastly outvoted by the new design.

Going back to the earlier icon would also drop me to earlier download rates. I'm not sure why people are so upset (and willing to give 1-star reviews) over an *icon* which i've chosen to please the majority. Why would it be beneficial to pick an icon that clearly my original and new poll show that far less people like.

If you have a choice, why go with the less popular one?

You are, in effect, asking me to disregard thousands and thousands of my customers (who are also in the majority) because there is a minority group that prefers something else (and is unfortunately willing to act spiteful over it). I'm not sure how that makes sense. The point of the app is to be as good as possible to as many people as possible. Also, i don't see why i (as a person) would want to help you out if you lashed out against me and tried to pull down my ranking over this (not to mention calling me a liar). Do people think taht that behavior is productive or conducive toward working for the best solution for all? Do they experience this in their own efforts? Do people berate them over their hobbies and for making something available for free *and* interacting with the community to make it better?

[BJWanlund]

I'm still having difficulty getting used to the new AroundMe icon...

BJ

[TheSpaz]

I'm not sure why that matters. As i said earlier, it could have the best design in the world, but if people hate it, then that doesn't help me.

As i also mentioned earlier, this was an option in the original poll, it also was vastly outvoted by the new design.

Going back to the earlier icon would also drop me to earlier download rates. I'm not sure why people are so upset (and willing to give 1-star reviews) over an *icon* which i've chosen to please the majority. Why would it be beneficial to pick an icon that clearly my original and new poll show that far less people like.

If you have a choice, why go with the less popular one?

You are, in effect, asking me to disregard thousands and thousands of my customers (who are also in the majority) because there is a minority group that prefers something else (and is unfortunately willing to act spiteful over it). I'm not sure how that makes sense. The point of the app is to be as good as possible to as many people as possible. Also, i don't see why i (as a person) would want to help you out if you lashed out against me and tried to pull down my ranking over this (not to mention calling me a liar). Do people think taht that behavior is productive or conducive toward working for the best solution for all? Do they experience this in their own efforts? Do people berate them over their hobbies and for making something available for free *and* interacting with the community to make it better?

So you're only concerned with getting the most downloads of your app? Your app is free, why are you worried that some people don't like the icon. Also, what makes the majority like the ugly icon? Why do I like the least popular icon? The original has a high quality look to it.

[Metasyntactic]

So you're only concerned with getting the most downloads of your app?

Because i'd like as many people as possible to find value in this app.

Your app is free, why are you worried that some people don't like the icon.

Um, you're not understanding. I'm unhappy because they are attempting to pull down my ranking and harm my app just because they don't like the icon. i.e. when the next person comes across, they then see a lower score and think "ah. well, that app isn't that good" and they will miss out.

It's the same reason i didn't like that you were trying to skew votes. What encourages people to do this? It's like "there is one thing i don't like about this app. thus i'm going to throw a tantrum until i get it". How is that a approach that makes any sense? Why do people think that that will ever accomplish anything?

Also, what makes the majority like the ugly icon?

I'm not sure what you're referring to. The majority like the colorful cell. Likely for many of the reasons i listed before.

Why do I like the least popular icon?

Personal preference i would imagine. Do you think an app is 1-star because the icon isn't something you happen to like, while the rest of the app is valuable? Does that make sense?

My guess is that these people are also continuing to use the app as well. They find value in it, and like it, but out of spite over nothing more than an icon they wish to hurt my apps chances.*

The original has a high quality look to it.
In your (and my) opinion sure. And clearly there are like 10k people that agree. However, lots more think that the new one looks better.

---

* What's worse is that i'm able to negotiate things like better licensing rates based on my review scores. So when people act out in this way, they just end up pushing me toward having to do things like add ads or charge. It's ultimately self defeating (esp. since i have little desire to work toward improving things for people who would lash out at me like they have).

[WishIWasHere]

Metasyntactic, don't let it get you down. My favorite is the black and white icon, followed by the ticket icon. The colored one is way, WAY back in third place for me. I've decided to chalk up it's popularity to 'there's no accounting for taste'. However, I think anybody who chooses to use or not use an app based on the icon has problems. All this will blow over and people will continue to use your app because it's a good one, and that's the most important thing.

[tasset]

Wow, this is an interesting thread! I'm actually surprised the poll is so greatly in favor of the new icon- I actually think the original ticket has a classy style with the edges and colors used.
I haven't upgraded since the icon change, or other apps that require 2.2.1.
Great app though!

[TheSpaz]

Wow, this is an interesting thread! I'm actually surprised the poll is so greatly in favor of the new icon- I actually think the original ticket has a classy style with the edges and colors used.
I haven't upgraded since the icon change, or other apps that require 2.2.1.
Great app though!

I haven't upgraded to the newest Jaadu VNC until they fix the icon. I'm staying with the unshiny finish.

If Apple would just make it so that we could change the icons ourselves, we'd be all set and people could download what ever they want and make it look whatever way they wan on the springboard.

[SFC Archer]

Spaz...what the hell is your problem...why are you so damn selfish and disrespectful? Why don't you just go somewhere else and leave this thread. You just don't get it...you are so tunnel visioned that you can't see past your own selfishness. Now you go to such low life extremes as giving poor reviews on a guys app because it don't MEET YOUR STANDARDS...You make me SICK!!!
YOU ARE SELFISH and INCONSIDERATE and do not even belong in a society of regular app users. The friggin majority rules...the guys shouldnt change JUST BECAUSE YOU SAY SO!!!! Suck it up and back the frick off...you have provided no reasons other then your own SELFISHNESS!!! Drop it already and either delete the dang App from your iPhone or SUCK IT UP and use it in the FREE, GIVING, KEEPING MOVIE LOVERS informed that it was meant to be.

DROP IT ALREADY:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[TheSpaz]

Spaz...what the hell is your problem...why are you so damn selfish and disrespectful? Why don't you just go somewhere else and leave this thread. You just don't get it...you are so tunnel visioned that you can't see past your own selfishness. Now you go to such low life extremes as giving poor reviews on a guys app because it don't MEET YOUR STANDARDS...You make me SICK!!!
YOU ARE SELFISH and INCONSIDERATE and do not even belong in a society of regular app users. The friggin majority rules...the guys shouldnt change JUST BECAUSE YOU SAY SO!!!! Suck it up and back the frick off...you have provided no reasons other then your own SELFISHNESS!!! Drop it already and either delete the dang App from your iPhone or SUCK IT UP and use it in the FREE, GIVING, KEEPING MOVIE LOVERS informed that it was meant to be.

DROP IT ALREADY:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Thank you for that lovely post. I didn't give his app a bad review and I don't have it installed on my iPhone. I gave Jaadu a great review because I love that app, but the new icon makes me not want to upgrade. I'm just being a part of a discussion here you know... It's a forum, it's made for opinions. The developer himself even likes the first icon.

Yes it's selfish because I don't have the same tastes as the majority? Wow...

Why do you have such a grudge against me. This thread was about icons you would like to change back. I don't believe it was called "Change Now Playing back to the original icon please"

I belong in this discussion just as much as everyone else. I'm not doing anything wrong.

[SFC Archer]

Thank you for that lovely post. I didn't give his app a bad review and I don't have it installed on my iPhone. I gave Jaadu a great review because I love that app, but the new icon makes me not want to upgrade. I'm just being a part of a discussion here you know... It's a forum, it's made for opinions. The developer himself even likes the first icon.

Yes it's selfish because I don't have the same tastes as the majority? Wow...

Why do you have such a grudge against me. This thread was about icons you would like to change back. I don't believe it was called "Change Now Playing back to the original icon please"

I belong in this discussion just as much as everyone else. I'm not doing anything wrong.

Because your like the energizer bunny and just keep going and going and going and never friggin stop with the same whining over and over and over again. Get over it...the majority say to use the color app and retire the flippin ticket...accept it already...you whinin about it is not ever going to bring it back and I am tired of you saying the same old garbage over and over and over. You said your piece...we ALL KNOW you don't like it ...OK got it...how many time are your gonna spout the same old frustrating BS. YOU are the one that keeps knockin on Meta and his App Icon and its on every friggin page.:mad::mad::mad:

I feel so sorry for you basin your desicion not to upgrade or use a fully functional useful app over a stupid icon. It is selfish and egotistical. The app store is not Burger King and you will not get it your way...accept it! If you dont like an app icon put it to the back of your iPhone so you are not embarresed by a bad icon...geee we wouldnt want your manhood threatened because of a bad icon.:rolleyes:

I am done...I have said my piece and have nothing further to say to someone so stuck on the value of a little picture in stead of the usefulness and usability of great apps. Maybe someday you will have something of value and useful to say and your glass will be half full, until then good luck with your so positive outlook on life:(

[WishIWasHere]

'the app store is not Burger King, and you will not get it your way'.....THAT is beautiful. I'm going to have to use that for a while.

[Rayfire]

People are entitled to their own opinions, but I can't believe that some people would go that far. I'm a programmer but not an app dev and I do understand your sentiments meta. If only we could hammer them with our 100111 or swing a 50k-line of codes so they would be open minded and understand first before even questioning us. But humans are insatiable...

[WhySoSerious]

I happen to think along the lines of the poll being biased (aka...it's not really a poll, i feel the developer is just plugging in numbers).

no way the current icon is that far ahead. the current icon is completely elementary looking.

paint-by-number's.......YAH!

[steventsmith]

Day 1 complete. Not as many votes as i would have liked. The current icon has grown in popularity (above 74%). I'm wondering what effect the black/white icon is having. Based on my initial poll, i'm guessing it's stealing votes away from both other icons.

http://stwing.upenn.edu/~cyrusn/blog/pictures/boxoffice/voting/Vote-3:12:09.png

I think over the weekend i'll hopefully get the 100k goal. There are usually a lot of people upgrading at that time as well as using NowPlaying to find movies.

I still find it very interesting that the original icon is the least favorite, but it has some incredibly vocal people. Oh well, at least people are passionate :)

Hi Cyrus,

The problem isn't simply that your current icon is bad, it's that the previous icon was of a good quality and the app itself is a good quality app that some people who bought it before are really disappointed it had to be changed.

The current icon is generic and cheap, like any of the other 99% of the app store. If you had had that icon all along, there wouldn't have been this problem; it's only that you had an icon that stood out and changed it to a generic 10-minute-job that [some] people are so offended.

If you're doing a poll inside the app, do remember that those who don't like the icon might not be running the app anymore. It sounds silly, but the artwork and branding for an app is extremely important for user loyalty.

There's no accounting for user taste, so I seriously think a poll is useless if you actually want an outstanding app.

-S

[Night Spring]

The current icon is generic and cheap, like any of the other 99% of the app store. If you had had that icon all along, there wouldn't have been this problem; it's only that you had an icon that stood out and changed it to a generic 10-minute-job that [some] people are so offended.

I really liked the original icon, and was a bit taken aback when it was changed, but then, when I think of how my whole iPhone screen will look, I find myself favoring the current icon, precisely because it is rather generic and would "blend in" with all the other icons. I find the grey the least appealing, mostly because the "slice" in the upper left square looks like you just cut a chunk out of the icon rather than evoking the sweeping timer movement in the old movie reels.

[TheSpaz]

Can I just say one thing?

I never really fully liked Now Playing and I only downloaded it because it was free. I think I used it once, but the discussion we were having was about the icon, not the app's usefulness. I'm not the target market here, I'm just commenting on the icon's design. I haven't had this app installed on my iPhone in a long time and regardless of the icon, I'll just keep it uninstalled. What I'm saying here is, I wouldn't use the app either way but the ticket icon was my favorite icon. The end.

I think the poll results might be skewed because the people who liked the red icon probably aren't upgrading because they don't wanna lose their favorite icon and so they cannot vote.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I think the poll results might be skewed because the people who liked the red icon probably aren't upgrading because they don't wanna lose their favorite icon and so they cannot vote.

What percent of the population would actually NOT upgrade because of an icon? .0002% .004%? Spaz, give up. You lost by a landslide. Quit making up excuses.

[Metasyntactic]

Alright. Voting is complete. We hit 100k votes.

Total result:
http://stwing.upenn.edu/~cyrusn/blog/pictures/boxoffice/voting/Vote-3:15:09.png

I'll leave voting open indefinitely though. No harm in letting everyone speak their mind.

Thanks everyone for your feedback and help throughout all of this.

[Zincous]

That was a close race between 2nd and 3rd

[Metasyntactic]

I happen to think along the lines of the poll being biased (aka...it's not really a poll, i feel the developer is just plugging in numbers).

no way the current icon is that far ahead. the current icon is completely elementary looking.

paint-by-number's.......YAH!

WTF? Seriously? You think i faked two customer polls to... what? End up picking an icon that isn't my favorite?

How on earth does that make sense?? If i was actually a liar (as you make me out to be), i would have just made up whatever numbers i wanted in the first vote.

What do you want from me at this point? I listened to your complaints. I gave your desires full weight along with all the rest of my customers. I've gotten *100,000* votes so far to work with, and i'm going with the majority of them. And you still have the gall to claim i'm a liar?

Why do you even bother trying to talk to developers and why should developers attempt to have a conversation with you and the community if this is the way you behave?

[Metasyntactic]

Hi Cyrus,

The problem isn't simply that your current icon is bad, it's that the previous icon was of a good quality and the app itself is a good quality app that some people who bought it before are really disappointed it had to be changed.

Well, first of all, no one actually bought my app. :)

Second, when it comes to any app, some people will end up being disappointed. You cannot please everyone, and so you need to make the decisions that make the most sense over your entire userbase. I have millions of customers, so i know that *no* icon will be 'right'. But i'm happier going with the icon that 75% of people like rather than one that 12% like.

The current icon is generic and cheap, like any of the other 99% of the app store. If you had had that icon all along, there wouldn't have been this problem; it's only that you had an icon that stood out and changed it to a generic 10-minute-job that [some] people are so offended.

I wouldn't have this problem. But i did have the *opposite* problem. I had tons of complaints about the old icon. As i mentioned earlier in the thread it was *1/3* of my total complaints.

If you're doing a poll inside the app, do remember that those who don't like the icon might not be running the app anymore. It sounds silly, but the artwork and branding for an app is extremely important for user loyalty.

That's possible, except that my server stats have gone up *significantly* since making the change. So i either haven't been losing people, or i've been gaining far more than i've been losing.

There's no accounting for user taste, so I seriously think a poll is useless if you actually want an outstanding app.

-SWhat would you have recommended instead?

[Metasyntactic]

So the ticket icon has just barely inched ahead of the grayscale icon. However, they're still very much behind he new icon. Voting seems to have died down, with >200k votes recorded.

I'm putting this subject to bed. If apple allows me to have multiple icons in the future, i'll certainly offer all of these. But, until then, it'll be the current icon.

Thanks for all your feedback!

[Rayfire]

So the ticket icon has just barely inched ahead of the grayscale icon. However, they're still very much behind he new icon. Voting seems to have died down, with >200k votes recorded.

I'm putting this subject to bed. If apple allows me to have multiple icons in the future, i'll certainly offer all of these. But, until then, it'll be the current icon.

Thanks for all your feedback!

Thanks for the update, I guess now we can

/thread: Now Playing icon :rolleyes:

[loneapple24]

The icon before had a simple, "Y! Fan" icon. Now it's, "MyFanTeams" Terrible...

[heyp]

I'm still having difficulty getting used to the new AroundMe icon...

BJ

yeah i miss the old aroundme icon