Leo Natsume, an artist based in Porto Alegre, Brazil, designed mobile app icons inspired by Toy Story characters.
The artist created the icons for Disney, a client of his. Starting out the process by sketching out ideas, he looked to relate the icons symbolically to the apps they would represent. In doing so, the icons are simple to use as the familiar Toy Story characters logically display the use they most closely perform in the movies.
To place a call, users tap on the phone character who appears in the third film, meanwhile the three-eyed alien characters are used as the contact icon because they symbolize conversation to other worlds. Leo Natsume provides descriptions on his website for each of the icons he uses, showing his careful thought-process for the project.
Disney-Inspired App Icons
Leo Natsume Designed App Icons Based on Toy Story Characters
Trend Themes
1. Character-inspired App Icons - Designing mobile apps icons based on popular fictional characters opens up opportunities for entertainment-based industries to appeal to a larger audience through customization.
2. Symbolic App Icons Design - Designing app icons that symbolize app use allows for a more user-friendly experience; this trend could be adapted to a variety of industries.
3. Simplification of User Interface Design - Creating app icons that represent the function of an app in a simple and recognizable way could disrupt the mobile application design industry by promoting more intuitive and user-friendly software.
Industry Implications
1. Entertainment Industry - Entertainment-based industries could benefit from this trend by replicating the user-friendly experience through character-inspired customizations for their mobile apps, such as movie theater apps or music streaming services.
2. Technology Industry - Other technology-based industries could benefit from simplifying their user interface and adopting the trend in app icon design to create more user-friendly software products.
3. Design Industry - This trend could disrupt the design industry by promoting the simplification of user interface design and creating more recognizable icons that better communicate app functionality.