How to create an app icon from a logo

Keep the recognizable part

Identify the symbol or letterform people already associate with the brand. Remove supporting text and secondary details that become hard to distinguish at the size of a store icon.

Set safe margins

Give the mark room inside the icon canvas. Preview it under the platform’s mask and keep key shapes away from edges that can be clipped by rounded or adaptive treatments.

Choose a useful background

Use a background that separates the symbol from its surroundings and works in light and dark contexts. Check that the mark does not rely on a transparent background if the destination asset expects an opaque image.

Preview the icon in context

Place it on a home screen beside other icons and inspect the search-result scale. If it only reads when enlarged, simplify the shape or increase contrast before exporting platform-specific assets.

Keep brand and listing consistent

The store screenshots and icon should feel like one product, but they do not need to use the logo in every slide. Let the icon identify the app while the listing visuals explain its benefits.

When the full logo does not fit

Wordmarks often depend on horizontal space and become unreadable inside a square. Try the standalone symbol, a distinctive initial, or a simplified form of the mark; preserve the full wordmark for the store page or launch screen where it has room.

Keep the variant recognizable to existing customers, but do not assume everyone already knows the brand. The icon still needs a distinct silhouette when it appears alone in search.

Make the source files reusable

Save a vector or layered master when possible, along with notes on the background color, safe area, and any platform-specific adjustments. This makes later dark, monochrome, or adaptive variants easier to maintain.

Generate iOS, Android launcher, and store assets from the master using the appropriate platform tools rather than manually resizing a single PNG into every folder.

Create a version for the platform mask

Start with a square composition and place the mark inside the relevant safe area. Apple applies its own shape to iOS-style icons; Android adaptive icons use separate foreground and background layers with a maskable center.

A logo with a thin outline or a white background may disappear on a light home screen. Check contrast against both dark and light surfaces and create a variant only when it solves a real visibility problem.

Do a side-by-side recognition check

Show the icon next to the full logo, then show it alone among unrelated apps. The first check asks whether it still feels like the brand; the second asks whether the mark can stand on its own.

If it works only with the wordmark beside it, simplify further or use a distinctive initial. Store and launcher icons are frequently encountered without the rest of the brand system.

When to draw a new symbol

If the logo is mostly a long wordmark, a detailed crest, or a thin line illustration, an icon adaptation may need a new simplified symbol rather than a tighter crop. Keep a recognizable brand cue, but optimize the mark for the small square.

Check the proposed icon beside the logo in a launch screen and website header. Consistent color or geometry can connect them even when the icon cannot carry the whole wordmark.