Anatomy of the real App Store icon

Many years ago, I had the chance to create some icons at Apple

I still have all the PSDs from that time

For the designers from that era, u know what Skeuomorphism design was about:

layers and layers and layers ;)

welcome to 2010 🫶

Start with a good shadow, use geometrics


Add some background colour
Add a circle
And some beautiful dark rays

Add a bit of contrast with a curve
An other little effect, so soft...
More lines to increase the drama

Just some inner shadow
And the original blue

Spending hours on details
Love the desaturation at the top

Let's add the infamous Highlight (so so skeuo!)
And the glyph

Quite a beast, tbh!

Let's finish it with first bevel
and second top one
Let's drop a name

We're good to go.

Crazy!
Hours of work, that became days and months

I didn't design these, but some less famous

Was my life, I enjoyed that process

Do I miss Skeuo?
Yes and no

There is a fine line between these old icons and the flat ones


Real App Store Icon