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Icon design is actually really interesting because good icons are an attractor in a phase space defined by the expectations of the users of those icons. An icon
by taneq 9mo ago
Icon design is actually really interesting because good icons are an attractor in a phase space defined by the expectations of the users of those icons. An icon doesn’t need to look like the action it represents. It needs to evoke the concept of the action when the user sees it. So in a perfect world the icon evolves towards the user’s expectation while the user learns their expectation based on the icon.
- gumby271 9mo agoFor instance an icon with a pointy stick over top of a horizontal rectangle with a gradient applied conveys a tool for doing document and page layout. Got it.
- calf 9mo agoIs that what they learn at Symbolics Systems.
- II2II 9mo agoI would argue that only makes sense if there is some consistency in the icon through time. There were four major changes in representation in the icons, and the change in contrast/colour between the first and second icons is sufficient to suggest a fifth representation in my mind.