How do you change the launcher logo of an app in Android Studio?

Here is another solution which I feel is more sensible for those working on Android Studio:

1. Expand the project root folder in the Project View
2. Right Click on the app folder
3. In the Context Menu go to New->Image Asset
4. In the pop up that appears select the the new logo you would like to have(image/clip art/text).
5. If you were selecting the image radio button (as is the default choice), if you clicked on the 3-buttons to show the path tree to locate your .png image file, most probably you might not be seeing it, so drag it from the Windows Explorer (if Windows) and drop it in the tree, and it will appear and ready for being selected.

That is it! You have a new logo for you app now.

Look in the application's AndroidManifest.xml file for the <application> tag.

This application tag has an android:icon attribute, which is usually @drawable/ic_launcher.The value here is the name of the launcher icon file. If the value is @drawable/ic_launcher, then the name of the icon is ic_launcher.png.

Find this icon in your resource folders (res/mipmap-mdpi, res/mipmap-hdpi, etc.) and replace it.

A note on mipmap resources: If your launcher icon is currently in drawable folders such as res/drawable-hdpi, you should move them to the mipmap equivalents (e.g. res/mipmap-hdpi). Android will better preserve the resolution of drawables in the mipmap folder for display in launcher applications.

Android Studio note: If you are using Android Studio you can let studio place the drawables in the correct place for you. Simply right click on your application module and click New -> Image Asset.

For the icon type select either "Launcher Icons (Legacy Only)" for flat PNG files or "Launcher Icons (Adaptive and Legacy)" if you also want to generate an adaptive icon for API 26+ devices.

Here are my steps for the task:

1. Create PNG image file of size 512x512 pixels
2. In Android Studio, in project view, highlight a mipmap directory
3. In menu, go to File>New>Image Asset
4. Click Image Button in Asset type button row
5. Click on 3 Dot Box at right of Path Box.
6. Drag image to source asset box
7. Click Next (Note: Existing launcher files will be overwritten)
8. Click Finish