App icons you wish they would change back

[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!!!

 

[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!!!

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:

https://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?

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 [app]FitPhone[/app] had the most issues with the icon. Here is the progression of my icons:


original icon got several complaints


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:





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.