One plus One is Three

With all the rumors of the possible release of an “ iTablet ” on how this device would look like I decided to create my own concept of it. With everybody focusing on the device I started thinking on how it would interact with other Apple devices like an iPhone or an iPod Touch. So I created this mockup on what would be a new way to play a classic poker game by using the iTablet. The iPhones could be used to private players information that is only addressed to the player and the tablet would show the games status. I think the combination of the iTablet and other devices could be a nice way to get things done the right way.

The idea

One of the most important reason to buy or not to buy an iPhone app is the icon. Why? It will represent the app in the App Store and on the home screen. Also the importance of the icon metaphor can not be underestimated if you want your app to standout from the other apps.
The best method to start from, is to keep it as simple as possible because you only have 3249 pixels to fill a 57x57 canvas. So try to bring down your app’s main goal into one idea or image before starting the magic.

How to

First off all you will need to create a 57x57 and 512x512 version of your icon.
The small one is intended to fit on the home screen and the large one will be for the App Store and promotional reasons. From my experience I suggest you start with the small icon; it is much easier to create a large icon from a smaller one then reverse.
A second thing you need to keep in mind is the gloss on your icon. Apple uses a default layer of gloss but you can turn it off ( native icon & web icon) and create your own. Personally, as a designer, I don’t like the default gloss because it is just a lazy excuse to make your icon fit the style of rest of the default apps.
Another thing you have to be aware of is the rounded corners on the icon. This is done by default and can not be changed, so make sure that your icon is prepared for this.

To make life a little bit easier I created some default Photoshop files where you can start from. I hope you will like them !

Besides the presentation you had also the option to take your app and go to the lab to get some advice from the Apple team. I went to one of them with my Keypoint iPhone app and got some really useful advice and apparently he liked my work on Keypoint and some other iPhone projects of mine.

So if you are into mobile and you are developing an iPhone app you should defiantly go to such events because you will get int touch with the right people and learn from their experiences in the field!