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App icons you wish they would change back
- Thread starter stevearm
- Start date
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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.
i really like this one! add some GLOSS to it though!
Sorry, not sure what you mean by that
Sorry, I meant put me in the "for it" category as opposed to "against it".
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).
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).
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).
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!
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...Ok I just read this thread. Mad props to Metasyntactic
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!!
Ok, here's what the voting screens look like:
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.
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.
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!
I think you're doing a great job, and I for one like the new icon! Keep up the good work!
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.
I never had rounded corners.
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.
Why not? It worked before. I asked my customers, they picked an icon, i switched to the icon, my downloads went up.
I am satisfied with 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.
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.
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
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
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?
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?
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.
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.
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
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!
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?