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Agreed, absolutely. The other thing is that full-color, textured icons help a great deal with immediate recognition as well. It's easy when the "open" icon is

Agreed, absolutely. The other thing is that full-color, textured icons help a great deal with immediate recognition as well. It's easy when the "open" icon is a yellow folder. Sadly, the move to flat design with monochrome icon outlines destroyed that entirely. I'm still waiting for full-color icons to come back in style again. They can still be flat, but being filled with color (not just colored outlines) helps immensely with fast recognition.

fedorareis 2y ago
Why does the folder color matter? Is it just because that is what you are used to from a specific OS? Color helps for some people but when making an accessible design you have to account for color blindness and other vision issues. Which means the icon needs enough contrast and can’t rely on just color to convey meaning, unless the icon is paired with a text label that also conveys the meaning the color was trying to convey. So while I agree that color iconography can be extremely helpful for the average user, unless it is supplemented by other techniques it can make a product completely unusable for a subset of users
- layer8 2y ago
  In the example, the folder is recognizable as such from just its shape. The color merely makes it more recognizable (because folders are yellow on Windows — it reinforces that the icon depicts a file folder). For accessibility reasons, you shouldn’t rely on only the color, but that doesn’t mean that color isn’t a very useful property to apply.
- mlx0x 2y ago
  Folders were always yellow on Windows because people were used to Manilla folders.
- fmbb 2y ago
  The commenter did not say yellow was important per se, or that the color yellow was the most important property of the icon. The commenter said that adding distinct colors to icons help users tell them apart.
y1n0 2y ago
I absolutely despise color coding. I'm red-green colorblind but that affects all colors that have red or green as part of the mix.
- drdec 2y ago
  What the GP is asking for does not affect the color blind. They are not suggesting there should be multiple folder icons of different colors. They just want color included in the existing icons. My understanding of color blindness means that that would be better for people with color blindness as well.
  - Izkata 2y ago
    Particularly with this example, because even with the not-the-same-yellow that a colorblind person would see, it would still end up closer to the object the icon is based on: https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-File-Folders-Reinforced-Tab/dp/B01LYHE49W/ https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-File-Folders-Reinforced-...
- skywhopper 2y ago
  I’m deuteranomolous myself, but I disagree. Color, shape, labels, and location can all combine to be useful for recognition. Using color alone is definitely a mistake, or making color the only difference between two icons. But combine distinct shapes and distinct colors (informed by color-blindness awareness) for the best results.

fedorareis 2y ago

Why does the folder color matter? Is it just because that is what you are used to from a specific OS? Color helps for some people but when making an accessible design you have to account for color blindness and other vision issues. Which means the icon needs enough contrast and can’t rely on just color to convey meaning, unless the icon is paired with a text label that also conveys the meaning the color was trying to convey. So while I agree that color iconography can be extremely helpful for the average user, unless it is supplemented by other techniques it can make a product completely unusable for a subset of users

layer8 2y ago
In the example, the folder is recognizable as such from just its shape. The color merely makes it more recognizable (because folders are yellow on Windows — it reinforces that the icon depicts a file folder). For accessibility reasons, you shouldn’t rely on only the color, but that doesn’t mean that color isn’t a very useful property to apply.
mlx0x 2y ago
Folders were always yellow on Windows because people were used to Manilla folders.
fmbb 2y ago
The commenter did not say yellow was important per se, or that the color yellow was the most important property of the icon. The commenter said that adding distinct colors to icons help users tell them apart.

y1n0 2y ago

I absolutely despise color coding. I'm red-green colorblind but that affects all colors that have red or green as part of the mix.

drdec 2y ago
What the GP is asking for does not affect the color blind. They are not suggesting there should be multiple folder icons of different colors. They just want color included in the existing icons. My understanding of color blindness means that that would be better for people with color blindness as well.
- Izkata 2y ago
  Particularly with this example, because even with the not-the-same-yellow that a colorblind person would see, it would still end up closer to the object the icon is based on: https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-File-Folders-Reinforced-Tab/dp/B01LYHE49W/ https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-File-Folders-Reinforced-...
skywhopper 2y ago
I’m deuteranomolous myself, but I disagree. Color, shape, labels, and location can all combine to be useful for recognition. Using color alone is definitely a mistake, or making color the only difference between two icons. But combine distinct shapes and distinct colors (informed by color-blindness awareness) for the best results.