Adaptive Icons and Logos

Adaptive design has become essential for logos and icons to perform well across various devices, each with its display standards. Initially, logos were static, designed for easy recognition and consistency.

However, with evolving technology, there is a greater need for flexibility. Modern logos and icons now adapt dynamically, ensuring they function well and remain visually appealing on different screens.

This adaptation involves smart adjustments to sizes and design elements, allowing them to integrate smoothly into diverse digital environments and improve user interactions.

Consistency Across Devices: Adaptive icons and logos ensure that a brand is consistently represented across all platforms, maintaining brand identity and recognition no matter where or how it is viewed.

Improved User Experience: By optimizing icons and logos for different environments, adaptive design improves the user experience. Icons that are clear and easy to recognize on any device reduce user frustration and enhance interaction with digital content.

Future-proofing: Adopting adaptive design principles helps future-proof digital assets against the continuous evolution of technology and devices. As new devices with different display capabilities come to market, adaptive icons and logos can adjust without needing a complete redesign.

Efficiency in Design and Development: With adaptive design, designers and developers can create a single set of assets that work universally, rather than creating multiple versions for different devices. This approach streamlines the design process and reduces the workload on design teams.

Designing adaptive icons requires a thoughtful approach that takes into account both the aesthetic appeal and functionality across various devices and platforms, especially for Android apps.

Step 1: Understand Adaptive Icon Requirements

Before you start designing, familiarize yourself with the requirements for adaptive icons on Android:

• Adaptive icons are made up of two layers; a foreground layer (which usually contains the icon image) and a background layer (which serves as the backdrop).

• Your icon's core design should be within the safe zone to avoid being cropped on different devices. Android recommends keeping your main content within the central 66% of the icon.

• Icons should be created as vector images (SVG) or at high resolution (PNG) to ensure they look sharp across all devices. The full asset size should be 108x108 dp, with the safe zone being 72x72 dp.

Step 2: Choose the Right Tools

• Utilize vector graphic design software such as Adobe Illustrator, Sketch, Affinity Designer, and Inkscape. These tools offer the capability to design scalable icons and export assets in different sizes and formats seamlessly.

Step 3: Design the Background Layer

• Keep the background simple to not distract from the foreground. Consider using a gradient or a subtle pattern that aligns with your brand colours.

• Since this layer might be visible around the edges depending on the icon shape (circle, squircle, etc.), ensure it looks good in isolation.

Step 4: Design the Foreground Layer

• This layer should contain the main icon image or logo that represents your app. Make it instantly recognizable.

• Place the key elements of your icon in the center to ensure visibility across all device shapes and sizes.

Step 5: Test Across Devices and Shapes

• Android Studio provides tools to preview your adaptive icons across different device shapes and UI themes.

• Ensure your icon's main elements are clear and visible across different backgrounds, sizes, and shapes.

Step 6: Implement Shadows and Animations (Optional)

• Adding a shadow to the foreground layer can create depth. However, ensure that shadows are used sparingly to avoid visibility issues on dark themes.

• Consider subtle animations for interactive elements. Remember, the primary goal is enhancing usability, not distracting the user.

Step 7: Prepare Your Icon for Deployment

• Export your foreground and background layers separately according to Android’s specifications. Typically, you'll need to export them as PNGs or vector drawable files.

• Ensure your AndroidManifest.xml file is updated to reference your new adaptive icon correctly.

Step 8: Gather Feedback and Iterate

• Share your icon with potential users or designers for feedback. Pay attention to visibility, recognizability, and overall appeal.

• Based on feedback, you might need to adjust the colours, shapes, or elements of your icon. Iteration is key to refining your design.

Tools and Software Recommendations

• Adobe Illustrator: A widely used tool for creating vector graphics, offering extensive features for precision and flexibility.

• Sketch: Popular among UI/UX designers, Sketch is great for designing icons and logos with its vector-based system.

• Affinity Designer: A cost-effective alternative to Illustrator, offering powerful vector and raster design tools.

• Figma: A collaborative web-based tool excellent for designing, prototyping, and iterating on icons and logos.

• InVision: Useful for creating interactive mockups that include adaptive icons and logos to test their functionality across different devices.

• Adobe XD: Provides excellent tools for designing and prototyping user experiences, including how adaptive designs behave in context.

Best Practices for Creating Versatile and Scalable Designs

• Simplicity is Key: Complex designs often lose their integrity when scaled down. Start simple and ensure your design is recognizable at any size.

• Consistent Brand Elements: Maintain consistent use of colours, shapes, and motifs across all variants to reinforce brand identity.

• Consider Context: Understand where and how your design will be used and create variations that cater to those specific needs.

Tips for Maintaining Brand Identity in Adaptive Designs

• Maintain Core Design Elements: Even when creating different variants, ensure the core elements of your design are always present.

• Use a Limited Color Palette: A consistent colour scheme helps in maintaining brand identity across different platforms.

• Regularly Update Your Designs: As brand strategies evolve, so should your adaptive icons and logos to ensure they remain relevant and aligned with the brand's identity.

By following these guidelines and employing a thoughtful design process, creators can ensure their adaptive icons and logos not only look great across various platforms but also uphold the brand’s identity and values in every digital interaction.

Adding an adaptive icon to your app involves a few steps, and the process can vary slightly depending on whether you are targeting Android or iOS platforms, as each has its guidelines and specifications for icons.

For Android

Android introduced adaptive icons with Android 8.0 (Oreo), allowing the system to display icons in various shapes across different device models. The icon consists of two layers: a foreground layer and a background layer, which can be animated separately.

1. Create Your Icon Layers

Design two layers for your icon; the foreground layer (which typically includes the logo or main visual element) and the background layer. Ensure each layer is 108x108dp, with the actual icon content being within a safe zone of 66dp.

2. Add the Icon to Your App

Place the foreground and background layers in the res/mipmap-anydpi-v26 directory of your project. Name the layers appropriately (e.g., ic_launcher_foreground.xml and ic_launcher_background.xml).

3. Update Your App's Manifest

Modify your app's AndroidManifest.xml file to reference the adaptive icon by adding an android:icon attribute to the <application> tag and setting it to a drawable resource that includes your adaptive icon layers.

<application
    android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
    android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
    android:adaptiveIcon="@drawable/ic_launcher_adaptive"
    ... >
</application>

The @drawable/ic_launcher_adaptive should reference an XML file that specifies the foreground and background layers.

4. Test Across Devices

Test your app on multiple devices and emulators to ensure the icon appears correctly across different shapes and sizes.

For iOS

iOS does not support adaptive icons in the same way Android does, but it is important to provide app icons in multiple sizes for different devices and contexts (e.g., app store, home screen, settings).

1. Prepare Icon Sizes

Create your app icon in multiple sizes according to Apple’s guidelines. Sizes can range from 29x29 pixels for settings on older iPhones to 1024x1024 pixels for the App Store on all devices.

Use a tool like Xcode's asset catalog to manage these icons efficiently.

2. Add Icons to Your Xcode Project

Open your project in Xcode and navigate to the App Icons and Launch Images section in your app target’s General settings.

Drag and drop your icon files into the appropriate slots in the AppIcon asset catalog.

3. Configure the App Icon Name

Ensure that the CFBundleIconName key in your app’s Info.plist file matches the name of your icon asset in the AppIcon catalog.

4. Test on Multiple Devices

Run your app on various devices and simulators to check how the icons appear in different contexts and ensure there are no display issues.

By following these steps and adhering to platform-specific guidelines, you can successfully add an adaptive icon to your app, enhancing its appearance and user experience across a wide range of devices.

Designing your icons can be a rewarding process, giving a unique and personal touch to your projects, apps, or websites. Here’s an easy design guide to help you create your icons, ensuring they are both attractive and functional.

1. Define Your Icon’s Purpose

Understand what action or idea your icon will represent; is it for navigation, social media, or a specific tool? This influences its design complexity and size, as icons for apps require different considerations than icons for websites or interfaces

2. Research and Inspiration

Explore platforms like Dribbble, Behance, or Pinterest for design inspiration and trends and look at how similar concepts are represented in other icons. Identify what you like and what you could improve.

3. Start Sketching

Begin with pencil and paper to quickly iterate different concepts, focusing on the basic shapes and forms that convey your icon’s function. Choose the most promising designs and refine them, considering how they will look in both large and small sizes.

4. Choose the Right Tools

Use Adobe Illustrator, Sketch, Affinity Designer, or Inkscape for creating scalable vector icons, while icons that require a lot of details or specific effects may benefit from Photoshop or GIMP, though vectors are preferred for scalability.

5. Design with Simplicity in Mind

Icons should be easily recognizable at a glance, so remove unnecessary details that do not contribute to their recognizability, and maintain consistent line widths, shapes, and angles. Decide on filled vs. outlined icons based on your usage context.

6. Use a Grid and Keylines

Designing on a grid ensures consistency, especially if you are creating a set of icons, and it helps in maintaining uniform proportions. Use keylines as guides to align elements within your icons, ensuring visual harmony.

7. Colour and Contrast

Stick to a limited colour palette to maintain simplicity and clarity, ensuring high contrast between the icon and its background. Use tools to check how your icons appear to those with colour vision deficiencies, ensuring accessibility.

8. Test Scalability and Context

Scale your icon to various sizes to ensure it remains clear and legible, from large displays to small mobile screens, and place it in mockups of its intended environment to see how it interacts with the UI and if it stands out appropriately.

9. Get Feedback

Share your icons with peers or potential users, as getting external feedback is crucial in spotting issues you might have overlooked, and be open to making changes based on the feedback received, as iteration is key to refining your design.

10. Prepare for Different Formats

Depending on where your icon will be used, you may need to export it in different formats (PNG, SVG, etc.) and sizes, ensuring they are optimized for the web if they are to be used online, to reduce loading times without sacrificing quality.

Google's Adaptive Icons for Android

With the release of Android 8.0 (Oreo), Google introduced adaptive icons, allowing developers to create icons that can adapt to different device UIs. This change aimed to improve the coherence of app icons across the vast Android ecosystem.

Google's adaptive icon guidelines focus on a two-layer design and vector graphics use, aiming for seamless adaptability and consistent presentation across diverse interfaces.

This approach enhances user experience and brand recognition by providing detailed guidelines and testing tools, promoting UI coherence within the Android ecosystem and ensuring icons remain visually cohesive and flexible.

Airbnb's Logo Redesign

In 2014, Airbnb underwent a comprehensive brand redesign, introducing a new logo called the "Bélo". The goal was to create a symbol of belonging, which could be easily recognized and adapted across various platforms and materials.

Airbnb's logo redesign led to the versatile Bélo symbol, embodying people, places, love, and the Airbnb "A" with a focus on scalability and easy recognition. This effort underscored the logo's role in conveying Airbnb's values and enhancing brand visibility across various platforms.

The transformation updated Airbnb's identity and reinforced its global presence, making the Bélo a universally recognized symbol of belonging and showcasing the impact of adaptive design in brand communication.

Spotify's Icon Evolution

Spotify's icon has seen several updates since its inception, with changes aimed at optimizing its visibility and impact across devices and platforms.

Spotify's icon redesign emphasizes simplicity, moving from detailed to abstract, ensuring visibility across platforms with its streamlined shape and refined colours.

This evolution highlights the importance of distinctive icons for app engagement and brand visibility. Focusing on clarity and scalability, the update enhances Spotify's global recognition by making the icon easily identifiable, demonstrating the impact of thoughtful design in digital marketplaces.

Adaptive icons, characterized by their dynamic shapes and two-layer structure, address the challenge of maintaining visual consistency and brand identity across devices. They require designers and developers to adopt a nuanced, collaborative approach that ensures functionality and recognizability across platforms.

The move towards adaptive design is a forward-thinking vision that ensures brand identities are effective and resonate with users in the ever-changing digital ecosystem, pushing the industry towards more flexible and engaging digital experiences.