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If I could lodge a complaint to all the UI designers: please stop making all the icons look the same in order for them to have the same "style." If I'm looking

by c3534l 7y ago

If I could lodge a complaint to all the UI designers: please stop making all the icons look the same in order for them to have the same "style." If I'm looking at a grid of essentially identical white-on-black pictograms with overlapping forms composed entirely of outlines with no variation in thickness or stroke, then you might as well just use actual words at that point.

rogual 7y ago
Seconded. Most recently I saw they'd done this to Blender (2.8) but it's happening everywhere.
capex 7y ago
In icon sets, variations in stroke thickness is a bad idea, without changing the context. People who can't evaluate design issues would simply categorise the product as "something's off here", or "I don't trust this". Your iconography has an impact at a deeper level.
- TuringTest 7y ago
  That doesn't invalidate GP's points. A collection of B&W icons with similar base shapes (circle, square, rectangle) and no contrast is terrible for using the interface. Each icon needs a distinctive element, be it color, weight or shape, to make it stand out from the other icons near it. If you're designing a B&W icon set, at least make sure that each one has a very eye-catchinge, different outline.
bryanrasmussen 7y ago
As a general rule icons take up less horizontal space than actual words describing what they do, which is why designers prefer to use icons.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- ta999999171 7y ago
  Word Wrap. Amateurs.
kaetemi 7y ago
I miss recognizable colors, and clear silhouettes. Too many icons now are monochrome squiggles and blobs on a (rounded) rectangle silhouette. About as horrible as it can get.
mahoho 7y ago
For real! GIMP became almost unusable for me when they introduced that monochrome icon theme, although luckily you can switch back in the options menu (for now at least). Colors are an important part of making icons recognizable at a glance, especially when you have a ton of them in one place.
curyous 7y ago
here f'n here. Most of the time text would be more useful than iconography. Even when you don't understand the language, text and iconography are about the same - some squiggly lines that mean nothing, that you have to attach meaning to.

by c3534l 7y ago

rogual 7y ago

Seconded. Most recently I saw they'd done this to Blender (2.8) but it's happening everywhere.

capex 7y ago

In icon sets, variations in stroke thickness is a bad idea, without changing the context. People who can't evaluate design issues would simply categorise the product as "something's off here", or "I don't trust this". Your iconography has an impact at a deeper level.

TuringTest 7y ago
That doesn't invalidate GP's points. A collection of B&W icons with similar base shapes (circle, square, rectangle) and no contrast is terrible for using the interface. Each icon needs a distinctive element, be it color, weight or shape, to make it stand out from the other icons near it. If you're designing a B&W icon set, at least make sure that each one has a very eye-catchinge, different outline.

bryanrasmussen 7y ago

As a general rule icons take up less horizontal space than actual words describing what they do, which is why designers prefer to use icons.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
ta999999171 7y ago
Word Wrap. Amateurs.

kaetemi 7y ago

I miss recognizable colors, and clear silhouettes. Too many icons now are monochrome squiggles and blobs on a (rounded) rectangle silhouette. About as horrible as it can get.

mahoho 7y ago

For real! GIMP became almost unusable for me when they introduced that monochrome icon theme, although luckily you can switch back in the options menu (for now at least). Colors are an important part of making icons recognizable at a glance, especially when you have a ton of them in one place.

curyous 7y ago

here f'n here. Most of the time text would be more useful than iconography. Even when you don't understand the language, text and iconography are about the same - some squiggly lines that mean nothing, that you have to attach meaning to.