[NeoCZ]

I've just noticed that on Windows 10 mobile the new icon isn't transparent as it used to be. Also on regular Windows 10 it doesn't have transparent icon. Most of other UWP apps have transparent icon that changes it's colour based on system colour you choose, but MS icon still has grey background. 

It seems like an easy fix and IMHO it would look better than grey background...

[Zubersoft]

The problem is that the icon doesn't look good on every background color. The default background color is blue (I believe) and the blue icon on the blue background did not work well at all. At least with the dark gray background (the same color Microsoft themselves use for their visual studio icon background) the icon stands out in the start menu, on the splash screen, and in the taskbar. 

As a side note, the icon is a transparent icon - I'm just choosing to use an explicit background color behind it (it's a setting I can choose in the application manifest). I can change that background color easily (or revert to transparent), but I don't think the icon works with the blue background color, so I'm hesitant to do that.

One thing that bothers me is I used a plugin to generate all the required icon sizes, and even though I'm following the guidelines, my icon looks really small in the start menu. Microsoft doesn't seem to be following their own guidelines in regards to that, so I'm a little confused by it. I may increase the application icon size for the start menu and disregard their icon guidelines.

Miike

[NeoCZ]

Yes, I use blue background color and I see why it might not look that good with it. However, I still prefer transparent background that changes based on user background color. Also one idea -  what about white circle around MobileSheets icon? See attached image, it's tile of FeedLab and it looks great even with blue background.. 

   

EDIT: I've noticed FeedLab changes also it's "inside" colour and only white parts remains the same.

[Zubersoft]

It's an interesting idea, but it changes the icon quite a bit if there is no inner circle color and only a white circle around the outside. The treble clef symbol would have to shrink in size to accomodate a thicker circle with a small amount of shadow (like the one you showed). I like the look of the icon a lot less with the tests I've run so far.  If I don't have a circle of color at all, it looks MUCH worse in my opinion. With a circle, it also looks worse (and like an entirely different icon) because there isn't the long shadow to add any variation or depth. 

I probably shouldn't spend much more effort on this as there are a lot more important things for me to focus my time on.

Thanks,
Mike

[Zubersoft]

Thinking more about this, the treble clef would need to be much more bold and stylish to exist without the circle and long shadow. I'm not an icon designer so I don't really have the tools to make something like that. It would also result in having a different icon for Windows vs Android, which could be confusing to users. I'm going to increase the app list icon size, so I could get rid of the background there if that's what you care about.

Mike

[NeoCZ]

If increasing icon size isn't big problem, it would be great. I understand different icon could really be confusing. Thanks