iPhone Concept Sketches & Final Icons And Evaluation

Does the end product match your original intentions?

I have brainstormed four genres and suitable icons for the Apple iPhone. I focused on the genres of war, fantasy, sci fi, horror as well as the Logo icon for my "Adidas" Flash game for Rob. I decided to do an arrangement of concept sketches for those genres to experiment and find a suitable and applicable iPhone app icon that would best fit the individual genres. My original intentions were to create 6 concept sketches for each genre. I decided to do 6 sketches because I feel it would help me get a better understanding of what the genres all about and what characteristics they entail. I sketched, coloured & rendered these ideas to be at a glossy and appealing finish to fit the standards of Apple. The icons are individualy interesting and make the genres look a little bit more attractive. To get these desired effects I used Photoshop, as this fantastic program allowed me to scan in my original concept sketches and edit the entire range of concept sketches that I did for those genres. As a focus point i tried to keep the sketches simple and colourful. My audience would most possibly be within the ages of 16-30 years old, so this meant keeping sketches contemporary and stylish to appeal to the target market. A very noticeable attribute of my design is that they all signify some sort of gernre and have clear inprinted meanings and purposes. This process of developing and experimenting helped me in finding the right images for the suitablility of the final product.

Is the end product appropriate for your intended audience?

Yes, I think the creative design of the final icon is suitable for my audience and appealling. The Brand I am representing is Adidas and they are aimed at 16-30 year olds. The final designs should be persuasive enough to get the attentions of my target audience and get them to take notice of the product.

The Process . . .

First things first I focused on basic shapes and the general idea of using shapes for advertising. That said i researched the existing market for iPhones and their "APPS" this helped me get an idea of what is suitable for an iphone app. As the Apps are usually in formats that support mobiles and PC's this meant the quality of the images and icons were compact and at a high resolution setting to be bright and bold.

I have 6 images drawn for each genre in consideration to the software I could use to enhance the final designs of my icons I have sketched.
To make the icon I have used 'photoshop' to create the icons platform. To begin I opened a new image with 72dpi, and 5cm x 5cm size. Then I made my Basic shape for the purpose of a backdrop of my Icon. The tool I used to create the background for my sketches is the Rounded Rectangle Tool which from previous research showed that this was the foundation step of creating the ideal and identitical shaped icon & APP. Then I added the Black to the background to relate the colours back to my concept sketches, the black really brings out the contrast and was an easy step to perform on Photoshop. I then Scanned in my images and with the help of a very useful tool called the Lasso Tool (20px) I could get a blended cut out of my scanned in image that i the pasted and placed onto my Rounded Rectangle Shape that was in a Black finish. Once my desired scanned in concept sketch was place onto the rounded rectangle shape I then use the Magic Wand Tool to get rid of any unwanted pieces of the image. I then used one of Photoshops editing and enhancing functions whereby you can manually manipulate the contrast settings and lighting of the actual icon and image. Bevel & Emboss was the key feature to use as it allowed me to add outer glows and really give the icon some depth and brightness.The final result is wonderful and very appealling and has a glossy texture and suitable for Apple iPhone.

Evaluation . . .

I was relatively happy with my final designs and prospects of making an appealing and interesting set of icons to be suitable for an App on the iPhone. I used a wide variety of gradients and shading techniques to add depth and a stylish contemporary new look to the icons. I managed to finish my concept designs and get my desired finishes completed at a consitent rate. I met every deadline and paced myself well and managed to finish off all designs and ideas for the iphone app icons to be finished.

I hardly encountered any problems other than making errors in Photoshop with certain tools but with the help of undoing recent movements I was able to correct any errors and get my desired finish rendered look.

I am getting a wider knowledge of using Photoshop and growing more and more confident in the software as I am slowly figuring out all the shortcuts and useful tools it supplies. The entire project was a success I feel and a fun to take on.