Amit Sharma
Aug 28, 2017 · 1 min read

I was shocked to see such a bad icon design for the medium android app. The bold ‘M’ of the logo creates an imbalance in the icon as its off centre thanks to the lines used to indicate text (unnecessary, IMHO). To have a quick fix to this issue the team immediately updated the icon to have more space around the logo to create an illusion of centre placement. But the M still remains on the top right corner of logo creating a visual discrepancy of space on right and left. The icon edges have no roundness making it look sharp, unfriendly and unprofessional. The size of the icon is larger than other icons! reducing the breathing space between the icon and its text and other icons in the drawer, creating a feeling of clutter and untidiness. With no shadow around the icon, it blends with the app drawer background in Android N.

Some of the basic design thinking was not put into the redesign of the medium icon. I hope that the team looks into this before people start disassociating with the brand.

)

    Amit Sharma

    Written by

    Designs Mixed Reality Experiences @ Microsoft