Icons Simplicity. The Vital Role of Icons 1520 ICons

 

Icons Simplicity. The Vital Role of Icons

The article on basic principles and the most important features of icon design for applications and websites, supported with examples by Tubik Studio designers.

They are small but vital for the efficiency rate of any application or website. They look simple but take loads of time and effort to feel that way. They follow you on any step of interaction with a product although users rarely – say never – think how important they are for the success and speed of this interaction. They have the power to do anything with a user: help, support, engage, encourage, clarify, simplify or vice versa confuse, annoy, disorient and so on and so forth. They are iconic in the effective user interface. They are icons.

The vital role of icons is not a secret for web and app designers now, it is mentioned in numerous articles and books on design, presented in workshops and webinars, shown in numerous case studies. We decided to add our two cents to this bulk of knowledge about icons, as this theme seems constantly on demand.

The essence of an icon

How to Change Computer icons in Windows

https://youtu.be/notRMf6o76U

Basically, app or desktop icon is an image which, having a kind of symbolic and metaphoric potential, becomes the element of navigation in the process of interaction. In deeper explanation, an icon is a visual symbol representing some action, thing, person, real or virtual.

In many cases, icons are able to stand up for the text, and this ability makes them so popular in the world of modern design. If you replace the stretch of copy with an icon, it saves the place for other elements of interaction on the app screen or web page, therefore, making it more functional without being overloaded. Also, it makes the interaction faster as in most cases people need less time to see and understand the icon than to read and understand the piece of text. Moreover, the icons efficiently move the limits as they enable people who have the problems of copy perception and recognition, such as those who suffer from dyslexia or close problems, to interact with the product. And finally, icons can successfully combine the functions of navigation and explanation with being the aesthetic element of the visual representation of the product, supporting the general style and having their own character.

Being so multifunctional and comprehensive, icons of the apps and websites can be:

• interactive, i.e. directly representing buttons, controls and any other elements of interaction.
• clarifying, i.e. visually explaining some functions, categories, actions, not being the direct element of interaction themselves.

decorating and entertaining, i.e. having lower functionality and higher aesthetic potential, providing a decorative addition to general style, for example featuring some seasonal celebrations etc.

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The example of interactive icons: Veggie App Concept .

The example of clarifying icons: Passfold project.

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The Features of Icons

Some basic features of efficient icons include being:

meaningful

As it has been mentioned above, an icon is a graphic element which has high symbolic potential. It means that creating the icon, first of all, a designer should define what is its role and meaning as the separate element and as the part of the general layout. Talking about more earthy things for a kind of metaphor, the best chefs always say that everything that is put on the plate should be edible. According to the latest trends, we support the same idea when it comes to icons as well as the other elements of layout: everything that is put on the screen should be functional. Therefore, any icon used in the interface should have its meaning and function. Without it, an icon is just a kind of empty stub, making the layout of the screen or web page dirty with the unnecessary elements.

clear

Behind the clarity here we mean making the icon understandable. That is one more feature supporting icon’s being meaningful. In fact, what it the point of being meaningful if nobody except the creator understands this meaning? For the icon, lack of clarity is the death knell. Instead of speeding up and easing the process of interaction, such icon will confuse the user and bring out poor user experience.

simple

The simplicity of icons is still a kind of debatable issue. Actually, designers agree that icons should be simple but still argue about where is the level of simplicity needed. Anyway, here in the studio we support the idea that an icon should be as simple as it is required for its particular aim and function and the designer working on it should stand on the foundation of following the existing guides for icons design and omitting any unnecessary details that can overload the image. However, at the same time, it’s important to remember the general style and other elements of the visual representation of the whole app or website concept. Successful consideration and a combination of these factors will result in efficient icons.