Graphic Design Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for Graphic Design professionals, students, and enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Looking at the Android Asset Studio Launcher Icon Generator, the launcher icons always end up with a transparent border of at least 2dp. Same goes the App Icon Template. But Googles Design Guide does not mention any best practice or requirements for such a border.
My question: Is there any good reason to follow this suggestion instead of using the available space as you please?
I found the following, hope this helps:
Android Icon Margins
… it was recommend that the icon included a margin around one twelfth of the total size between the edge of the icon and the image it contained. For example the medium density icon is 48×48 pixels, one twelfth of this is 4, giving a margin of 4 pixels around the icon. This means the area available for the image is 40×40 (48 minus the margin of 4 pixels on each side).
However, the bigger screens on today’s devices gives more room for the icons so a smaller margin can be used, for example one eighteenth of the icon size. The margin allows for spaces between the icons on a screen and to allow for any drop shadows or parts of the image that stick out a little.
