Building Local Calendar Sync Day 05: Logo and App Icon
At day 5 of building Local Calendar Sync, we care about the Logo. The app runs locally on my computer and will hopefully solve the Calendar Problem in my life.
Every app needs a logo. And even though, this app would only run in the background and the app logo is rarely seen, it needs at least a simple one. And although the whole journey only started because Fiverr doesn't work for software projects, I consulted Upwork (a freelancer platform like Fiverr) again for the logo.
This time, with much more success. In the blog post about my Fiverr experiences above, I came to the conclusion that those Freelancer platform work best for repeatable design tasks. I chose the Modern App Icon for your Apple iOS/MacOS/Android and other platforms offer and sent a quick briefing:
Hi Shoaib, I need an icon for my macOS App called "Local Calendar Sync". It uses local APIs to sync multiple calendars with each other so that all appointments appear in all calendars. The icon should look like a native macOS icon and will also be used for a potential iOS app later. Maybe something like the native Calendar Icon in red with a green, round "sync arrow" icon in the corner? Do you think you can do that? If yes, I would like to book!
After a few messages, back and forth, Shoaib provided me with some drafts and only after a single revision, I received a logo, that I am satisfied with - for only $35,00! Crazy 🤯
Although the communication was good, delivery was quick, and I am satisfied with the result, for transparencies, I should mention that we had two little hiccups in the process.
- The first draft, that I received, did not exactly follow Apple's Design Guidelines for App Icons. After asking to follow them, Shoaib immediately adjusted the icon!
- I only received the logo in one single size (1024 x 1024 pixels), although I needed the same icon in multiple resolutions, to set it correctly in Xcode. After asking for the other sizes, I immediately received them.
Both issues got resolved quick and uncomplicated by the designer, and were no problem in the end. But it demonstrates, one more time, that you need to be the project manager yourself. Both things only got noticed and resolved so quickly because I had existing experience: I knew that the Apple Design guidelines existed, and I remembered from previous projects, that I needed icons in many different resolutions.
To be honest: From a professional and experienced App Icon Designer, I would have expected to follow the official Design Guidelines from Apple and to provide the icon in all the required resolutions...
But hey - in the end it all went really well and the value for money is unbeatable. And now I am one step closer to the goal of building this app: Now I have a logo!
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