The Importance of Icon Metaphors

louiemantia.com

3 points·auston··6 comments

He seems awfully biased towards Apple icons. Admittedly, some of their icons use better visual metaphors, but I can't help but wonder if his preferences have developed from his day-to-day use of Apple software, as opposed to objective evaluation of the designs.

I think most of his analysis is reasonable, certainly I think many of the Mac icons work better at smaller sizes.

I think he cuts the Safari icon too much slack, however - I didn't realise that there were continents painted in the background of the compass, and the compass is fairly weak as a metaphor for the Web.

I think the Finder icon is poor too.

Disclosure: Another Mac user.

I have to agree with you. First time I saw the Finder icon, I thought it was a metaphor for an IM application.

I wouldn't call it unreasonable; just biased.

I guess it's hard to be objective, given the pervasiveness of operating systems. I'm sure if I ever succumb to Alzheimer's disease, my grandchildrens' names will be forgotten long before I forget how to use Windows ;-)

"Designing the Obvious" by Robert Hoekman dedicates a whole chapter in his book on supporting the user's mental model.

A great example he gives is deleting files. Instead of writing command line prompts to delete files, users simply drag icons into a trash bin on their desktop.

The visual metaphor of throwing something away is simple and it makes sense.

"Firstly, I want to apologize in advance, as I do not write often, and don’t claim to be a good writer. Proceed with caution."

I liked his article, but this is just about the worst opening sentence I've seen in a while. Yeesh. Have those thoughts if you must, but don't share them with your readers.

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