Icon Design Research Articles

Globalization and the ethics of architectural design

What ethical considerations are involved in the design and production of contemporary architectural icons, such as Rem Koolhaas’ China Central Television headquarters and Richard Rogers’ Heathrow Terminal Five? In this article, Donald McNeill explores the range of ethical issues facing high‐profile architectural firms who compete for commissions from clients in the global architectural marketplace. Through illustrative studies of projects which raise questions of political, environmental and civic responsibility, McNeill considers the degree to which architects are compromised by clients, the extent to which ethical considerations permeate architecture as a profession, and the ability of architects to intervene in broader debates about urbanity and society. A stronger engagement with ethical considerations is required if architectural practice is to be more than a professional screen for the activities of corporate and government clients.

In search of icons for a United Europe

Europe did not start anew in 1945. To the contrary, the legacy of total war made it seem unlikely that a unified, coherent body known as Europe might ever emerge from the urban rubble of the Second World War. Given the catastrophes of the war, it was hard to imagine anything bringing together what had so recently been torn apart. The difficulties in establishing a united Europe out of a fractured and fragmented landscape of nationalisms which had, only a few years earlier, sought each other's annihilation, are nowhere more apparent than in the endless postwar debates concerning the location, design, and symbolic structure of a new European capital, which Carola Hein explores in this provocative and timely essay. Given the recent French and Dutch rejections of the European Constitution, the question of Europe's symbolic unity is more urgent than ever. But symbolic or iconic urban design alone, as Hein shows, cannot unify Europe. A polycentric and truly democratic European capital cannot be bestowed from above by a solitary architectural genius working through the pre‐existing channels of corporate capitalism. Just the opposite: a “capital built bottom‐up,” as Hein explains, must emerge organically from “a local and citizen initiative.”

Trustworthy systems through quantitative software engineering

Trustworthy systems through quantitative software engineering

Searching for signs, symbols, and icons: Effects of time of day, visual complexity, and grouping.

Searching for icons, symbols, or signs is an integral part of tasks involving computer or radar displays, head-up displays in aircraft, or attending to road traffic signs. Icons therefore need to be designed to optimize search times, taking into account the factors likely to slow down visual search. Three factors likely to adversely affect visual search were examined: the time of day at which search was carried out, the visual complexity of the icons, and the extent to which information features in the icon were grouped together. The speed with which participants searched icon arrays for a target was slower early in the afternoon, when icons were visually complex and when information features in icons were not grouped together to form a single object. Theories of attention that account for both feature-based and object-based search best explain these findings and are used to form the basis for ways of improving icon design.

The Role of Motion in Object Recognition

Do motion cues influence object recognition when contour information is available? Three experiments examined four motion conditions for a variety of objects (no motion, random motion, atypical motion, and typical motion) when contour information was also available. A typical motion pattern was one that would normally be associated with the moving object, whereas atypical motion involved a regular motion pattern that was typical for one object in the set of 15 used in the experiments, but wasn't associated with the object in motion. In Experiments 1 and 2, the objects were made difficult to recognize, by eliminating vertices and by using small representations, respectively. In Experiment 3, large, complete contour wire frame pictures were used. In all experiments, recognition speed and accuracy were best for the typical motion condition and second best for the atypical motion. With easily-recognized objects, random motion led to faster recognition than no motion, whereas, with difficult recognition, random motion led to slower response times than no motion. The results are interpreted with a three-process model. Applications to the design of computer icons, signage, and camouflage are discussed

Effects of Display Characteristics and Individual Differences on Preferences of VDT Icon Design

This study explored the effects of display characteristics such as target/background color combination, single/simultaneous presentation, and individual differences by sex, and design specialty on preferences of VDT icon design. The results indicated black targets (black-on-white, black-on-yellow) and black backgrounds (red-on-black, yellow-on-black) were the most popular and white targets (white-on-red, white-on-black) and white backgrounds (blue-on-white, red-on-white) were the second most popular. As for the chromatic color combinations, yellow-on-blue was the most favored. Subjects rated color combinations under single presentation higher than those under simultaneous presentation. Women rated purplish targets and rated purplish and blue backgrounds higher than men. Subjects with design background favored black more either as a target or background, but they favored turquoise less than those without design background.

한국인 20대의 심성모형을 기반으로 한 아이콘 개발

Icons are the main element of the graphic user interface (CUI). They can help users perform effectively on the computer. especially when the icons reflect user's mental model. However. few studies in Korea represented Korean users' mental models in icon design. The purpose of this study. therefore. was to ascertain whether existing icons agreement with Korean twentieth mental model. and to deduce properties of Korean twentieth mental model. To do that. 10 icons from two commercially available toolbar-icons of word processing programs were compared with the newly developed icons. which were developed to represent Korean user's mental modelthrough interviews. surveys. and mental model sketches. The results show that five new metaphors were found: a dog-eared part on the bottom right corner new for new document. a magnifying glass for search. a red pencil for spell-check. ' +' and

The Usability of Iconic Designs a Case Study of Juicy Salif

This paper is the first part of a research project about the lack of usability in products with a strong aesthetic appeal. The hypothesis of this research is that products — Icons, influenced by marketing and admired by consumers for aesthetic priority, have a disabled usability because of the absence of ergonomics approach during the design phase. Here, a short history about the arise of industrial aesthetic and the relationship between product and beauty is presented, together with a study about product's pleasurability. A case study about the lemon squeezer JUICY SALIF, a design icon considered product, is also presented, through usability tests, questionnaires and comments suggested by admirers through an internet forum.

Iconic SQL: Practical Issues in the Querying of Databases through Structured Iconic Expressions

We report on an iconic interface that implements a restricted subset of SQL commands for querying a database. Database queries and the query language's tokens (verbs, adjectives, etc.) are represented by icons. To construct a query, the user composes structured iconic expressions according to the grammar of the iconic language. The language and grammar include rules for iconic construction (Quadral Composite Icons and Serial Composite Icons). In brief, the user visually queries the database by issuing structured iconic queries composed in a systematic manner. The paper describes the syntactic and semantic principles behind structured iconic expressions and the way that these principles have been implemented in an iconic interface. User evaluation is informally reported, and the role of metaphor in the design and interpretation of icons is discussed.

Effective Ivis Icon Comprehension Research: Context and Response Scaling Methods

A refined approach used to determine the comprehension level of in-vehicle information system (IVIS) icons is introduced. This approach provides three primary improvements over classical evaluation procedures (e.g., ISO, 2001). First, this approach recommends the inclusion of context to ensure realistic comprehension scores. Second, the scaling method employed provides concrete, well-defined measurement criteria based on major and minor elements included in the icon message. Third, this approach allows the comprehension testing team to provide better diagnostic information back to the icon designers because it allows for analysis of what element(s) of the icon the subjects seemed to understand and what element(s) may have led to errors in comprehension. We recommend using this approach to provide high quality comprehension information for IVIS icon evaluations.

Driver Acceptance of General vs. Specific Icons for In-Vehicle Information

This study compared driver acceptance of general icons to specific icons for In-Vehicle Information System (IVIS) devices. In the study, general and paired specific icons, along with two unrelated icons, were tested in both the general and specific driving scenarios. Subjects were asked to select: (1) one icon that most accurately described the driving scenario; and (2) one or more icons that would be acceptable for the driving scenario. The most accurate icon type selected by the subjects was strongly associated with the given scenario type, with the exception of collision avoidance. That is, when the driving scenario was described in general terms, subjects typically selected general icons as most accurately representing the scenario; when the driving scenario was described in specific terms, subjects typically selected specific icons as most accurately representing the scenario. In contrast to the icon accuracy, high acceptance levels were obtained for both general and specific icons regardless of the driving scenario description. Therefore, general icons are capable of meeting driver expectations and preferences for a broad range of IVIS messages. Recommendations for icon design are: (1) general icons should be used as long as they do not negatively impact driver acceptance or driver performance; and (2) for safety-related messages, specific icons will provide higher levels of driver acceptance than general icons.

웹기반 초등교육용 컨텐츠의 아이콘 설계를 위한 아동 감성 비교 연구

웹기반 초등교육용 컨텐츠의 아이콘 설계를 위한 아동 감성 비교 연구

Factors affecting the design of computer icons

The purpose of this study was to identify and investigate the main factors involved in the design of computer graphic user interfaces (GUI), commonly known as computer icons. Nineteen elements related to icon design were extracted from the principles, criteria and guidelines for GUI design. Forty-three Taiwanese designers working in computer GUI design were recruited to rate the importance of each design element. Results from the principal components analysis showed that the subjects’ importance ratings for computer icon design elements were affected by five factors: styling quality, message quality, meaningfulness, locatability, and metaphor. In addition to comprehensibility and identifiability, which previous results have found to be important icon design considerations, styling quality may also be important. Analysis of variance of the importance ratings for elements within each factor found that meaningfulness and locatability were more important than styling quality, message quality and metaphor. Finally, the correlation results indicated that neither computer GUI design experience nor the designers’ gender were related to importance ratings for the icon design elements. Relevance to industry Although the essential considerations for icon design are comprehensibility and identifiability, the results of this research demonstrate that “style” should also be considered as a factor when creating a computer icon. These research findings could serve as a guide to design computer icons that are appropriate for children's education programs, and that attract people to web sites and make web sites more user-friendly.

Effects of training and representational characteristics in icon design

Icons are a very important component of graphical user interfaces. However, icon design is still predominantly artistic in nature and as a result icon selection is generally based on usability evaluations after a set of alternative icons are developed. This process tends to be time-consuming and costly. In this research, we address the issues ofwhat should be depicted in an icon, given the function it should represent, and how training affects the performance of novice users when using an iconic interface. A set of 36 concrete icons (12 functions) were selected and tested with a total of 30 participants. The experimental results indicate that complete representations are generally superior for both untrained and trained participants. Results also show that trained participants had shorter response times when compared to untrained participants. Further analysis suggests that ambiguity, uniqueness and dominance are three important aspects to consider when designing and developing icons. Applications of this research include the design of appropriate icons for graphical user interfaces prior to usability testing and the importance of a short training period to illustrate the composition of an icon in an effort to improve the mental model associated with each design.

Can Icon Animation Enhance Human Performance… Or is it Just Another Gimmick?

This study addresses the question of whether there is value to the use of animation in icon design over and above that of attracting attention. Specifically, the study asks if there is any basis in human performance for recommending for or against the use of animation in icon design. The objective was to examine the effect of animation on icon comprehension and preference at two levels of complexity, as measured in the context of a supermarket-shopping computer program. Results suggest that animation can contribute to users' comprehension of icons that represent commands, and that this contribution may be greater for commands of higher levels of abstraction. Specifically, it appears that simple icons are more comprehensible than complex ones for commands of lower levels of abstraction, while complex icons are more comprehensible than simple ones for commands of higher levels of abstraction. Moreover, animation of complex icons that represent abstract commands may improve icon comprehension far more than animation of either simple or complex icons that represent less abstract commands. The notion that animation can be used intelligently to improve human performance in HCI is supported. Further research is encouraged to identify ways in which levels of command abstraction can be measured reliably, and to establish guidelines for the level of abstraction at which complexity and animation should be introduced into icon design.

Designing Icons for the Graphical User Interface

This paper addresses the issue of designing icons for the Graphical User Interface by exploring what design rules have evolved from established graphic design principles and, of these, which can be successfully adapted for the Graphical User Interface. By going towards a design criterion for computer icons it must be recognised that any change from one medium to another will alter the design possibilities. In order to establish what those design possibilities are, computer icons can be gauged against how other elements of design are used and their design criteria. Magazines direct the reader around the page by creating a positive reading order. Conflict, contrast or harmony can alter the relationship between design elements without altering their size, also optical and not mathematical centres decide the balance of elements used in any design. Computer icons are rarely designed as individuals, but as families. These families of icons are compared against other systems to establish what their requirements are and how this impacts upon icon design.

Teaching programming concepts using an icon-based software design tool

The authors have developed a Windows-based iconic detailed design tool named which allows the user to design a program with icons representing all the major procedural and object-oriented programming constructs and data structures within a syntax-directed environment. The user can then generate syntactically correct code for any one of several text-based languages. This tool was used successfully for several years in an academic environment, and multimedia-based teaching materials were developed in conjunction with a National Science Foundation grant.

An Empirical Perspective on Visual Icon Design

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate two methods for assessing the quality of iconic representations of computer functionality. A secondary objective is to explore the relationship between frequency of use of specific computer functions and icon usage. These objectives were accomplished by investigating the identifiability, perceived effectiveness, and frequency of use of 34 icons used in the standard and formatting toolbars of Microsoft® Word 7.0. More specifically, our data provide information regarding the perceived effectiveness of the iconic representation given its associated functionality, free-form recall of associated functionality given only the icon, frequency of use of the functionality (either by access through the icon or the menu) and frequency of icon use. To accomplish our objectives, we constructed and administered a four-part survey to 353 volunteers. The results compose the first empirically documented evidence that icon use is not merely a function of how frequently users access the functionality the icon is designed to represent. The results also suggests that the ability of users to correctly identify the functionality of an icon given only the graphic image may be an effective method of evaluating the quality of alternative icon designs.

Design of icons for use by Chinese in mainland China

The objective of this study was to investigate the impacts of cultural differences in cognitive abilities between the American and Chinese users on their performance with icon displays. The goal was to provide insight for software developers whose products might have potential Chinese users. The key factor in this study was the presentation mode of icon displays, which could be alphanumeric elements only, pictorial elements only, or a combined mode (both elements). An experiment was conducted with 30 American and 30 Chinese subjects. The subjects performed recognition tasks using different presentation modes. Results indicate that for the American subjects there were advantages to alphanumeric and combined modes, compared to the pictorial mode, in terms of performance time and errors. For Chinese subjects, there were advantages to pictorial and combined modes, compared with alphanumeric mode; their initial error rate also was lower using a combined mode than when using an alphanumeric one.

Validating a predictive model for computer icon development

A predictive model for icon design was evaluated. Eleven participants gave their interpretations of and rated thirteen icons. Average information content and articulatory distance measures were calculated from the interpretation results. Semantic differential scales resulted in ratings which provided a subjective measure of the icon. All measures were then combined to develop a model to predict icon communication. This model was then statistically compared with the model developed previously for existing icons. Overall results indicate the model is a very good one, but there should be further research using newly designed icons to determine proper weights for each of the factors of the model. Also, there appear to be gender differences which suggest the model is a better predictive tool for males than for females. Further research should be done to determine whether this is due to the small sample size of this study.