Screenshots are an essential part of alluring users in downloading your App. It is not guaranteed that a great screenshot will create a download, but it is a necessity if you even want to dream of one. It should be the convincing key to the user – the last straw.
Same as in clothes, screenshots come and go as trends. Certain things allure people from time to time, and keeping up with the trends is crucial to keep up with competitors. When analyzing an article made back in 2012, the importance of screenshots had already been highlighted. It is not about the description; it is about the visuals. It was enriching and fun to analyze this article and realize that even though some things were different, many similarities could still be found when comparing to this day.
One of the main differences I came across was the use of colors. A “good example” consisted of bright neon colors and a non-symmetrical layout of two motorbikes speeding up in the runway. Regardless of that App being a photo editor App, the color trend in that area has also changed to a more mellow style. When analyzinga research made by AsoDesk, the same thing can be seen, thus the research showed that the most used colors in the screenshots today are black and white. Besides, when analyzing Scrnshts webpage, which consists of current Screenshots as an inspiration for others, along with white and black, gradients are very popping at the moment. In addition to the differences in 2012, the most exciting part was to find any possible similarities, which still exist today. Much was seen, but a trend called the sliced out panorama technique, which is very common these days, was already popping up back then. However, the best part of analyzing this article, was the reminder of keeping your fingernails “well-groomed”, if wishing to use your fingers in the picture of the screenshot…
When analyzing an article made in 2017 and comparing it to the Scrnshts webpage, I came across a widespread trend, which seems to work today – the text and image in the screenshot. In almost every single screenshot, that scrnshts has published as an inspiration to all the screenshot creators, locates the descriptive/advertising text at the top of the screenshot and the picture right under it. This creates a visible image to the user of what they are going to get and how it is going to look.
After analyzing different years of screenshots, I have concluded that even though new trends pop up fast, the same ones exist and can stand the test of time. I still can’t help but wonder what trends are going to pop up next?
