What kinds of icons are more useful?

 

As the key part in the WIMP (Window/Icon/Menu/Pointing Device) interface design, icons are omnipresent in the UI design. With the improvement in people’s esthetical and taste need, icons need to be constantly changing.
The function of icons is to establish a metaphor between the virtual world and the real world.

If this metaphor could not be understood, the icons are good for nothing. The design of icons should observe the following principles.

 

1. The relationship the icons represent should be direct and simple.
By “direct and simple”, I mean not being roundabout. The link between the visual image and the hidden meaning should be clear enough.

2. The relationship the icons represent should be one and only.
This means that the icons should not carry ambiguous indications. Actually, this principle carries the hidden principle that the icons should not be too complicated. Because, the more complicated they are, the more meanings they carry, then the more difficult for the users to understand.

3. A series of icons should have the same reflective mode.
The users may tend to have the same response to a set of icons. If another different response was aroused, the users may get confused, and even get wrong ideas.

4. It is best to have short and simple words as the complimentary part of the icons.

 

In UI design, the most commonly seen code is like the traffic lights, which have their corresponding positions and can even be easy for the blind-color people to judge from their positions. The following two pictures show the most commonly seen mobile phone menus.

 

Picture 1: the main menu of Nokia N95

 

Picture 2: the main menu of Alcatel OT-C825

Finally, what I want to clarify is that sometimes the principles may be contradictive, so it is important to gain a balance. The more ideal status is that a win-win solution is achieved.