Icons/Symbols and More: Visible Languages to Facilitate Communication

Abstract

Icons and symbols have been part of the user's experience of computing for decades, and many people tend to take them for granted as part of graphical user interfaces. But they weren't always there. The Apple Macintosh popularized "icons" as the slightly mis-named term for these visual signs, and by the mid-1980s they became part of graphical user interface paradigms and associated with the desktop metaphor. Windowing environments like the Macintosh, Windows, Open Look, Motif, NeXT, and other desk-top and workstation platforms all adopted variations of the trash icon, folder icons, document icons, and specific application icons. Today, most work or play environments include (some might say are littered with) 50 to 100 icons. As I write these words, in fact, I counted about 75 visual signs currently on my screen. Is this good or bad? As user-interface designers, I think we care about the quality and use of icons and Illustrations by mwienerarts.com