Create Mobile App Promotional Icons Using IconJ

IconJ offers a number of free options for creating iPhone-formatted icons and other graphics to promote your various mobile applications.

Tools Available at IconJ

Currently, you can find 3 main tools at http://iconj.com

 1-iconj-tools

  We’re going to look at the iPhone Style Icon Converter in this guide, but feel free to have fun with the other tools as well. They work in a very similar manner to the iPhone icon tool.  

iPhone Style Icon Converter

To get started, click “iPhone Style Icon Converter” from the home page. You will be taken to an introduction of this tool:

 2-iphone-start

As you can see from above, you can upload a variety of types of image files and they should be under 1 MB in size. TIP: Uploading a square image will create the best proportioned icon possible. Click the “Upload” button to get started. Then you can select an image from your hard drive:

 3-select

  Once the image is loaded, you can choose the reflection style of your image. There are plenty to choose from. For our example, we’re choosing the default iPhone styel.

 4-reflection

Other options include (explanation below the image):

 5-options

  • Level of Reflection: We chose normal, because anything higher often makes it difficult to see the image clearly. Of course, this depends on your individual image, so test out the best look for your image.
  • Icon Shadow: Choose if you want shadow on your icon or not.
  • Resize and Crop: If your image is not a perfect square, you can choose “Auto Resize” that will squeeze the image into a square. This may cause some distortion. If you don’t want any distortion, you can choose “Auto Crop”, but this may cause some key parts of your image to be removed. Finally, you can choose “Resize Without Transform” and it will keep the original shape of your image. If you want a square image, don’t choose this last option.
  • Export Icon Dimensions: The default is 57 x 57 pixels, which is the iPhone icon size, but you can choose other sizes if you prefer.
  • Export File Type: Choose the type of file you’d like. Default is PNG.
  • Sharpen and Contrast: Sharpening and contrast might be helpful if you have an image that requires it or you have chosen a high level of reflection.
When you have decided on your settings, click “Continue”. Your image is now ready: 6-done You can download the icon to your computer by clicking “Click here to download then”. If you want to change any settings click “Previous” and fix them. If you don’t like your image, click “Start Over” and give it another shot.