Icons have been used widely in digital interfaces and are highly recognized by
users. Without testing, it is not convincing to be true.
Everyday Objects
Icons designed based on everyday objects may not be recognized after the
represented objects disappeared.
New technologies
Icons created for particular technology may be replaced by newer technologies or
interactions.
Recognition Testing
Recognition Testing will help us understand how people react to each icon and how
they interpret their meaning.
Recognition Testing
How do people think about these icons?
We administered questionnaires through various social media channels, such as Facebook, LinkedIn,
Line, WeChat, and WhatsApp, to ask What is this icon? And got a diverse
group of respondents, most of whom answered in English. By analyzing their responses, we could determine whether
icons effectively conveyed their intended meaning.
2831
Answers
30
Icons (with its variants)
70 - 90
Sample size
All
Age Groups
Primary Answer
Other Answers
Which icon get more answers match to its original tag?
When collecting these 30 icons, we recorded their original tag which we consider as their "correct"
name. Our objective is to determine which icon receives the most correct answers across different age groups.
Based on our survey data, the 25-34 age group comprises the majority of participants, accounting for
approximately one-third of the total number. As a result, we have grouped all ages under 24 into one category
and ages 35 and above into another.
*The system utilizes fuzzy matching to assess the accuracy of user-provided answers, allowing for
consideration of variations that are still deemed correct. This approach enables the acceptance of alternative
forms of correct answers. For instance, if the designated correct response for the printer icon is "printer,"
variations such as "print" or "printing" will also be acknowledged as valid.
*Accessibility: 9% | Language: 8% | Phone Callback: 0% are not showing in the treemap.
Creating Trend
From Icon Libraries
Creation shows the trend of demands
The number of creations from the Noun Project and Icon Scout for these 30 selected icons show the
trend that the needs from designers. This can be circumstantial evidence to show what icons are still in demand.
What we learn?
Conclution
Universal icons which do not pass the user testing
The interpretation of these four icons varies due to their multiple uses, making it difficult to obtain
consistent answers. Their versatility is context-dependent. It is possible that, in the future, one dominant
meaning for each icon may emerge, overshadowing its other uses.
Folder
Folder is not clear with its meaning because people confused between it and FILE.
Rate
Star has many meanings according to the context, it mainly used as FAVORITE, LOVE, SAVE. It is
not always RATE.
Message
Text bubble can be one way action as COMMENT and two way communication like MESSAGE and CHAT. It
is hard to determine the clear meaning and the action.
Edit
Pencil has many meanings according to the context, it represents any actions using pen or pencil.
Ex. EDIT, DRAW, WRITE, POST, SIGN. It also can be an object(s) like NOTES, POSTS.
Icons from everyday objects that fail to accurately represent their intended
meaning.
These three icons have already been replaced by other icons or technologies for their functionalities.
Additionally, it is rare to find these objects daily, let alone teenagers having fewer opportunities to know and
comprehend their purpose of use.
Piggy Bank
The piggy bank, traditionally a symbol of saving money, has become less clear in its
representation over time. As people no longer use it as frequently to save money, it has taken
on various interpretations in the realm of finance and lost some of its symbolic association
with the action of saving.
Hourglass
The hourglass used to be the timer, but it now has many meanings in a digital interface, such as
loading, waiting, and processing. Moreover, these meaning has been replaced by a
progress bar and loading animation like a spinning wheel.
SD Card
The SD card, once a popular memory storage device akin to flash drives and floppy disks, has lost
its relevance with the increasing prevalence of cloud storage. Moreover, its shape, resembling a
SIM card, can confuse some users.
Inclusiveness is needed when using and designing icons
"WHO reports that approximately 1.3 billion people, accounting for 16% of the global population,
face significant disabilities. The CDC notes that up to 26% of adults in the United States have some form of
disability. Given this information, it is crucial to prioritize accessibility in the design of digital platforms
to ensure inclusiveness and improve the online experience for everyone."
Language
The globe symbol is not intuitive for representing language as it's not widely used. Monolingual
users are unlikely to utilize this feature. Websites can now detect system language and save
user preferences, reducing the need for manual translation. The decreasing prevalence of
language icons on The Noun Project further suggests that the globe symbol is confusing and
uncommon for representing language.
Translation
Users may find the translation icon less intuitive, which is not frequently used in everyday
tasks, much like the language icon. Nonetheless, due to its design, the translation icon has a
higher recognition rate than the language icon. The icon incorporates the letter "A" and a
symbol for a foreign language, making it easy for users to associate it with translation between
two languages.
Accessibility
The icon represents the absence of agreement in the survey concerns for several reasons. It's
possible that it's not widely recognized or that people are indifferent to its meaning. This is
consistent with the findings of WebAIM. This non-profit organization analyzed home pages and
found that 96.3% failed to meet WCAG 2 standards.
