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The Importance of Icon Metaphors
- doodyhead 18y agoHe 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.
- Angostura 18y agoI 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.
- reazalun 18y agoI have to agree with you. First time I saw the Finder icon, I thought it was a metaphor for an IM application.
- doodyhead 18y agoI 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 ;-)
- r00k 18y ago"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.
- tbrooks 18y ago"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.