Ask HN: How important is the app icon?

I would say the app icon is very much important. People are visual in nature; this is why we have designers and not just programmers. An icon should ideally represent what the app does; should possibly share the apps / companies color scheme; should be easy to tell apart from the next app in it's category and should be recognizable in a sea of other apps.

Nothing sucks more then wanting to use an app you haven't used in a few weeks, but not being able to find it swiping past numerous other apps on your phone.

I'm a programmer, but I always like to sketch out what I want first. Setup some ground rules - color, major design points, etc... then give it to a designer and let them take over.

Ask for 2 or 3 versions - possibly even ask multiple designers for a version and see what you like best.

I was working on a developer tool which had a lot of users (~500k) where we were using a stock icon. Not until a much later release we changed the icon that was designed by a professional designer. Few of our users did complain that it didn't look great in their Mac / Linux docks! Story on mobile might be a bit different but from my perspective, unless I don't pin the icon to my dock (in which case I use the app A LOT) I generally don't seem to care about the icon as long as its decent.

EDIT: I guess this is on the cards, but you should first redesign the landing page on octopusapp.com. All the best!

Thanks for the advice. I know what you're saying regarding the landing page, it's spartan at best. (what can I say, I'm a minimalist)