Redesign: Launcher icon

Of all the redesign issues we faced during the past several months, the launcher icon, in hindsight, seemed to be the lynchpin decision. I don't know if that is because the icon is the first image that users of the app see, or if that icon is the toughest to design, because of its small size, or if we focused all of our design reservations, frustrations and concerns onto that thumbprint-sized scapegoat. Whatever the deeper meanings might be, we had to have a launcher icon, for people to press and open the app. So, after various prototypes and discussions, lead designer Marsha Matta eventually developed the image of the Fort Vancouver palisade as a metaphorical barrier between the physical world and the digital world, with the gate of Fort Vancouver, represented in the gate image of the app, opening up exciting new worlds to visitors, if the just press this (the text on the mobile device, underneath this icon, will read: Fort Vancouver):