Be cautious about program icons and names

Did you find that apps with beautiful icons and refreshing names are more appealing to users in the vast application stack? As a developer, in the face of this work, can you ask yourself: "From the icon and name, can you know what is the purpose of this program?"

Name too long, too partial, too over the mouth or duplicate, the icon is too simple, too fancy, too boring are unqualified works, it is easy for users to fall into confusion. Let's take a look at a few examples.

The icons and names are terrible

Calvetica is definitely an awesome feature in functionality, as it is an iPhone platform calendar and GTD tool recommended by KKK in "Minimalist GTD and Phone". The problem is that its icons and names are too bad.

At first glance, when you see this icon, what do you think about it, whether it is a calendar, a red cross, or a red cross? This icon actually reveals only two meanings:

What can it add (plus sign)

Its design is very simple

Of course, it's up to the name of the program: Calvetica, which is a noun made up of Cal and vetica. But for users of non-English-speaking countries, it is easy to misinterpret a strange word, and even think of "Calculator." And just the plus sign in the icon is also related to the calculator, too bad.

Let's look at a more popular program: Foursquare, which is not much better than where to go.

There is a tick on the icon, what do you think about it? To-do list or Nike? Suppose you do not know about its Check In play and will you try this app?

And so on, purple golf is what is the meaning? Or basketball? The user's mind is full of doubt.

Look at the program's name: Foursquare, literal translation is "Quartet." In fact, this is a kind of game played by American children in school, related to the rubber ball. Oh, this moment some users will understand, the original meaning of the icon is hit with a rubber ball a square mark.

"Is this a game?" And guess wrong, this is the trendy LBS sign-in service. Who made this icon look like a game?

The name is bad, but the icon is awesome

First to say Instagram, the word is composed of Insta plus Gram. The former is "immediately, immediately," while the latter is much like a "telegram." No one can guess it is related to Polaroid.

Hard to read the name does not matter, the icon is very exciting:

Very intuitive to understand its camera features, yes, Instagram is a camera. This icon expresses its basic functions and usage, reducing the user's learning costs.

Something like this: Soulver, staring at the name, knows what it does? Guess it's a calculator. (A variant of Solver?)

The icon is awful, the name is awesome

First show the icon:

What is this stuff? Is a concise Tai Chi map, you think of Korean Air? Or the general procedure of the Mac platform? Neither. By its name Simplenote, you will suddenly realized: the original is a notebook with synchronization function!

The icons and names are great

There are many programs with well-crafted icons and names, except for the well-known calendar, maps and other official programs. Consider the following two applets.

Delivery Status is the meaning of "express status inquiry". The software name of such a tool class needs to be "simple and straightforward" so as to save users' time and improve satisfaction.

Its icon is an unopened package:

Parcel post a delicate express orders: sender, recipient, bar code. Package is also close to the transparent plastic, the details perfect, the performance was just right.

Pastebot is composed of Paste and Bot, the former is "paste", the latter is "robot." The user immediately knows that this is an automated clipboard program. Combine this cartoon icon again:

Probably guess its function: In fact, this is a cross-platform clipboard from Mac to iOS.

some thoughts

Taking so long to cite examples and bad examples is nothing more than giving developers some inspiration: smart phone users already have some inertial thinking, simply by "non-mainstream" icons and names, can not stand out. You need to adapt to your users so that they feel comfortable and enjoyable.