I’ve on my press page compiled articles that explain ways in which app and game developers can better their chances of coverage in publications, but Travis Jeffery counters for 37signals, arguing app devs should ‘design’ their App Store screenshots in a more marketing-oriented fashion. He provides the following advice:

  • Include a slide from the developer, saying: “Hi, I made a thing! Here’s some information about the thing!”
  • Add examples of what the app does (see Vine and Pocket)
  • Show how to use the app by overlaying gesture information (like Currency – Simple Converter)

His reasoning is these grabs will be seen elsewhere, such as on Twitter cards, they are “not boring”, and they “communicate explicity, often using words”. He argues it’s “cool seeing the apps from the perspective of being on a phone and in someone’s hand,” and such grabs convince him that “the makers of the app care”.

Needless to say, I largely disagree. By shoehorning in a load of marketing/explanatory copy and imagery, the space left for your app is significantly reduced, lessening its impact. Additionally, as I’ve said in articles linked from my aforementioned press page, if you upload five images of your app that’s also full of marketing junk, or set at exciting jaunty angles (with overlays) or fake swipes, you’ve just lost press coverage.

Perhaps sales increases if you took Jeffery’s advice would outweigh providing clean grabs to potential customers along with whatever you’d get from press coverage these days. (Additionally, some websites now seem content to use App Store grabs whatever state they’re in, thereby encouraging marketing guff being shoe-horned in.) I’d certainly love to see some before and after figures for that. However, my advice would be:

  • Take the best clean screenshots you can, and communicate your app’s functionality or how your game plays in that initial shot. Before releasing it, show the grab to friends and colleagues  to see if they can figure out what the app does or how the game plays. If it doesn’t work, see if you can rework your initial grab before plumping for added text and images.
  • Remember that there’s nothing wrong with using a mock-up/edited grab if what you show is possible within the product. For example, game grabs are fine if partly composed in Photoshop, to get elements into a more ideal position for your grab if they show something that’s possible within the game. (What’s not acceptable is to design something that’s not possible.)
  • If you do feel the need to add anything to your screenshot, reduce that to a bare minimum, thereby adjusting your original grab as little as possible. The smaller you make the image of the product, the less your potential customers can see of your app/game, even if they now have some words to help explain what it might do. Aim for clarity at all times; ensure you don’t end up deceiving your audience in some way.
  • If you do amend your grabs in a more marketing manner, ensure that least one of them (and preferably more) remains ‘clean’, so your customers can at least see the app at the biggest size the space on the App Store allows. Also, ensure you have a set of entirely clean grabs on your press page, for use in the press. (Also, ensure you have a press page!)