IPhone and iPad Application Development – Designing App Icons
By: Alan Smith
Submitted: 2011-04-07 04:11:25 | Word Count: 496
2010 has seen a sudden upsurge in the market of Mobile iOS devices. There astronomical rise in the sales of iPhones and iPads. The Apple Application Store is directly accessible to the iPhone, iPad and iPod devices that run on the iOS.
When any iOS designer submits the mobile application, he/she has to also submit the icon along with it. The process of developing an icon could consume a bit of time but its returns are handsome too.
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There are different icons each having different size and used for specific purpose. There are different devices that run the iOS. This implies that the application designer has to know which sort of icon is to be used when and how.
Icon sizes for iPhone /iPod applications:
The Icon sizes for Application, iPhone 4, App Store, Spotlight Search and iPhone 4 spotlights are 57x57px, 114x114px, 512x512px, 29x29px and 58x58px respectively.
There are not many variations in the icon sizes for iPhone applications. The size of the official application icon which is displayed on the home screen of the user is 57x57px. Higher resolution is also supported by the iPhone 4 so it is better to include the icon with size 114x114px, though not necessary.
The largest icon size that is recommended is 512 x 512px. This icon is quite big. This icon is meant for being displayed over the App Store as well as when the visitor is browsing the applications in Cover Mode. When you start a new icon design with the help of the Photoshop it is better to start initially at 512px and then slowly decreasing the scale.
Icons with a bit smaller size of 29×29px are supported for Spotlight search. The iPhone 4 features screen with higher resolutions and because of this the icon size for spotlight search should be 58×58px.
Icon sizes for iPad applications:
The Icon sizes for iPad Application, App Store, Spotlight Search and Settings are 72x72px, 512x512px, 50x50px, and 29x29px respectively.
The touch screen of the iPad is comparatively larger than that of the iPhone or iPod. This allows the application icon to be a bit larger. It is 72x72px. The size of the App Store Icon which is 512x512px is the same as in the case of iPhone. The icon size for Spotlight Search is 50x50px. The icon of the size 29x29px can be used as a setting icon.
A small icon will be displayed beside the tab if a settings page is created within the general functionality of the iOS. This allows inclusion of different user names and accounts and change of themes too. The smaller or minor options of the application can also be fiddled with because of this arrangement.
The application developer should also note that the applications that offer icons in PNG files are only accepted by the Apple App Store.
