iTunes Icon Uproar
The move came from a desire to move away from the image of the compact disc, which makes complete sense due to the fact that iTunes has been so influential in actually killing the CD. But as much as a rebrand may make logical sense, you still have to give the customer something compelling. This icon is so much the opposite of compelling that it has caused all sorts of drama online. Someone even created a Twitter account pretending to be the icon posting tweets such as "I was handcrafted with unicorn tears."
I learned two lessons from this outpouring of hate for this icon.
1. More confirmation that visuals really do matter to people. It's so easy to think "it's just an icon", but an icon tells a significant story to those that engage with it.
2. There are 2 sides to a rebrand: the side that makes logical sense ("the cd has to go") and the side that grabs people emotionally through the visual. It can't just solve 1 of those, but has to effectively solve both. The uproar on this icon change clearly only accomplishes #1.
What do you think? Are you in favor of it or are you an iTunes10 icon hater?
photo via brand new
6 Comments
"I'm lukewarm about it. It's not awful, but it's not amazing. I know traditionally Apple doesn't make too many design mistakes, and I'm sure they thought through this before announcing it. I'd love to hear a behind the scenes breakdown of the logo and why they chose this version.
I'd say its more fun and approachable than the old logo, but departs from what we are used to seeing from Apple. Even though it's cartoony, it has more personality to me. Most Apple design has a more sophisticated feel to it."
- Ben Washer
"When I saw it, I was a little surprised at first, but I don't hate it. It seems like it was done quickly, given how much thought Apple puts into product design. Not nearly as jarring as the new QuickTime icon I noticed when I updated to Snow Leopard (thanks iPhone 4!). That one took a little getting used to."
- Monty Cagwin
"I'm terrified they're about to roll out an entire set of Mac icons inside gradient blue circles. I'm surprised I'm not having nightmares about it. If I wanted Windows 7 I'd go buy a PC."
- Kelly
"For something that is probably on almost every computer, the quality and effort poured into this looks underdone. Very unusual for Apple considering the war stories of jewelers loupes being used to scrutinize designs, 10 unique comps + multiple revisions for a single design idea, etc...
You've got guys like http://wow.softfacade.com/ and http://iconfactory.com/design/detail/transmit doing some mind-blowing work out there and they push this, IMO, mediocre icon out... not what I expected.
I used candybar already to switch mine out, it was too ugly."
- Aubrey
"Icons are not just images to many people, they are elements of their memory, a part of their history that they use to identify with. Icons date back to the mid 16th century and were originally religious representations of something holy. In modern times, the meaning had been watered down to mean any symbol or image representing something.
So it shouldn't be surprising that the human psyche might hold dear an emblem or image they have become familiar with. It embeds itself into our subconscious, regardless how good the design is or is not. If it represents something of importance to someone it will stick, and changing it can lead to a break in that connection creating a variety of responses including: suspicion, despair, anger, a sense of loss, and so on. Imagine if you will, if Disney ever got rid of the three merged circles that represent "The Mouse". I think there would be chaos on the streets!
But with the iTunes icon, I do understand why they got rid of the CD, but they could have retained the essence of it, perhaps in keeping a shape that represents the universality of the MP3 or of music itself. I have several ideas that they could have employed that would retain the overall appearance, and still update the look without specifically showing a CD. But they didn't ask me, so I'll hang on to them incase they do. ;-)"
- Glen Sutton
"Honestly, I don't think Apple can please everyone when dealing with the change of their itunes icon, even if it is much needed. I am personally not to fond of the generic looking new icon myself. However, it could be the greatest icon known to man, but inevitability someone would find something wrong with it. So why not make it customizable? Let the user decide. Oh, wait.. I forgot. It's Apple.
@Mikeylash Twitter"
- Mike Lash