Salesforce mobile application icons had three core problems: Inconsistent brand expression, lack of visual distinction, and low cognitive load (almost everything is blue) and unaligned to the the beloved and playful Trailhead-inspired direction that Salesforce was following at large.

Develop a set of mobile app icons that align to the Salesforce parent brand: A more consistent set of designs that are on brand, beautiful, fun, and easily recognizable. Rules: No text in the icon (e.g., “Salesforce”). Use their recently updated brand colors. And adopting Icons that are, well… iconic (instantly recognizable). The solution set needs to communicate its relationship to their respective service implicitly. Visual language is also required to set Salesforce apart from competitors. in a way that feels modern, fun and own a differentiated personality.‍

Getting multiple business units and their respective teams and leadership (all the way to SVP) was a project of graphic ingenuity, logistics, technical troubleshooting, corporate politics, and patient persistence. We embraced simplicity and focused on each app’s features and characteristics inside a Salesforce cloud-outlined container. One of the most critical aspects of an icon is scalability. Because the icon was going to be shown in several places and at several sizes throughout the platform, the goal for this set of icons was to maintain legibility and uniqueness when scaled.