Mobile Game Icons and Key Art

The app icon is often the only thing a player sees before deciding whether to open a store page. It has to read at thumbnail size, say what kind of game it is and look different from the icons around it. Key art then carries the same promise into the store page, social posts and ads.

Icon and Key Art Deliverables

We design the full set of visuals that represent a game outside the game itself:

• App icons in every size Google Play and the App Store require
• Icon variants prepared for store listing experiments
• A key art illustration that sets the game's look
• Feature graphics, banners and crops for social posts and ads

Research, Sketches and Store Tests

We start by studying the store category your game will sit in: which colors, characters and shapes the top games use, and where there is room to stand apart. Then we sketch many small thumbnails before painting any of them, and check each one at real size on a phone. The two or three strongest directions are finished. Because we also run store listing experiments, icon variants can go straight into tests, so the final choice rests on what players actually tap.

Store Conversion and Recognition

Icons and key art are among the few store assets players see in search results, charts and featured spots. A clear icon helps more of the people who see a game decide to look closer, and matching key art keeps the store page, ads and social posts recognizable as one game. When the icon, characters and colors match the game itself, players also feel that the game delivers what the store page promised.

• Games heading for launch — teams that still need an icon, key art and store graphics.
• Live games in crowded categories — titles whose icon no longer stands out next to newer competitors.
• Teams planning store tests — projects that want several icon variants to test or a seasonal refresh.

Tell us about your game and its store category, and we will start with a round of sketches.