Introducing the Iconic Tile Template

The iconic tile template aligns itself with the Windows Phone aesthetic and design principles (see Figure 13.7). A monochromatic icon image is displayed prominently on the tile for all three sizes. Two icon images should be defined for the template. The icon images rely on transparency and both should be PNG images, not JPGs. Colored pixels within the image are ignored and areas of zero transparency take on the tile’s color. JPG does not support transparency, so there is little point setting either of the icon images to a JPG file. Indeed, doing so results in an eye-catching square.

FIGURE 13.7 Layout of the iconic tile template.

The medium tile size uses a single icon image, whereas the wide tile and the small tile share the small image. The icon image in the medium tile is scaled down and the tile’s elements positioned correctly even when using the badge count, regardless of the size of the icon image. When using the small tile size, however, the image width may need tweaking to accommodate the badge count field.

FIGURE 13.8 Element dimensions of the iconic tile template.

The iconic tile template does not allow you to display multicolored images, but its monochromatic look mirrors the design philosophy of the phone UI, which some users prefer.