Consistency with icons

Icon design is a true art as an application icon is so iconic that it can even outweigh a brand logo. Let's think about Microsoft Office applications for instance, more people will generally remember applications icons than program package logo. In the case of the iiOS operating system the design of the icons is even more important as the characteristics of the operating system and how it's used require creating highly functional icons:

• That operating system is fully applications-based and their interface becomes the main feature of the device.
• The person using the system is usually in motion, that's, wants to quickly identify the application to use it for a few seconds.
• All icons retain a same rectangular shape with rounded corners to run as buttons, making them very functional.

Taking into account these characteristics I think that the design of an icon for an iOS application should be very good care as to how consistent with the interface, that's to say, as far as the icon reflects the interface will be easier for the user to identify, especially when we have many applications the device, let's see some examples of consistent and inconsistent icons:

Shopping List, an application to create shopping lists has a 100% icon consistent with the interface of the application, in fact if we fix the incontext is actually a "photo" of the application in use, however the image has been arranged so that it's fully identifiable despite the size that the icon can have. Well done.

ReaddleDocs, is one of the most remarkable cases of inconsistency between icon and application, in fact it's clear that whoever designed the icon isn't the same person who designed the graphic interface. The icon resembles a classic folder with several icons inside that symbolize documents, emails and images. When we open the application we will find a completely different atmosphere dominated by blue and grey colors with icons that appear to be drawn from a different operating system. Although the icon appropriately identifies the function of the application does not identify it, while entering it the user "gets disappointed" by finding an environment quite different from that promised by the exterior image. That's bad.

BugMe is an application to take notes with a 100% icon consistent with the interface of the application. It's actually a perfect example of how consistent an icon is required to design as this is a miniature version of the interface that we can see as we get into the application, and beautifully identifies not only its function but its shape. Well implemented.

HippoRemote Pro, an application to manage our computer using an iPhone as remote control, is an example of complete inconsistency as while having a highly visually appealing icon, this does not represent or form the application. When viewing the icon for the first time, we don't understand what type of application it's about at once, we have to check every item in the icon and then infer that it's some kind of application that makes them a keyboard or a computer mouse. Unimplemented.