Procreate Icon
Savage Interactive, the developers of Procreate, held a Dribbble Playoff to challenge designers to rethink their app icon. Procreate is a pioneering, mobile-first digital illustration and painting app for professional artists and illustrators.
To paraphrase Procreate’s brief, “Our users see and interact with our app icon every time they open Procreate. Our app icon doesn’t just represent Procreate; it must be unique, compete with other icons, and most importantly, stand out.”
My initial approach veered toward a total redesign, but it felt more appropriate to refine existing core elements after considering the importance of Procreate’s brand equity.
Before
After
I started by redrawing the form to introduce fluidity and parallelism, striving for a natural flow between endpoints to conceptually reference the creative process from beginning to end. The new gradient further reinforces this idea with blended color swatches sampled from their previous logo.
With their iconic shape complete, my focus shifted to the icon’s background, where the newly-designed details felt disconnected in comparison. I remedied this by using soft glows and shadows to create a subtle depth, effectively gluing the design together.
By streamlining Procreate’s signature shape, introducing a new gradient, and adding much-needed dimensionality, the icon successfully breathes new life while honoring the foundation laid by its predecessor. It also won first prize.