An image or pictogram used instead of or supplemental to textual information. Icon requests are off topic; please keep questions related to their use rather than asking what a good icon to represent a certain item/concept would be.
39
votes
4answers
4k views
When to use icons vs. icons with text vs. just text links?
Are there any rules on when to use icons vs. icons with text vs. just text links in a web application?
For example:
vs.
save
vs.
save
Extra question: Is save -or- save preferable?
2
votes
2answers
43 views
Clarifying unfamiliar tools in a toolbox
If you use Adobe Photoshop to edit your images, there's this toolbox, from which you can select the tool you want to use.
I'm designing a similar program than manipulates blueprints instead of ...
124
votes
17answers
8k views
Save icon, is the floppy disk icon dead?
This Twitter post sparked me to ask the question:
totally! RT @damienguard: Dear UI
designers everywhere. Stop using
floppy disk icons for save. Too many
people have no idea what it is now.
...
188
votes
16answers
8k views
What explains the current shift from glossy UIs to matte UIs?
I've noticed an interesting phenomenon in the user interfaces of many famous applications, they're moving away from the glossy complex to a more dull and bare minimum design.
Why the sudden change? ...
8
votes
3answers
237 views
How to differentiate icons for *client* from *server* IT services (mail, web, filesharing and so on)
I need to design a UI that includes widgets to control a server computer, and a client computer.
This means I'll be doing similar pairs of icons for mail (mail program vs mail server), web (browser ...
3
votes
4answers
189 views
Positive connotation Icon for number of errors
We have a game where we need to count number of errors as performance criteria. We are looking for a way to positively note the scores. One idea was to make an association to golfing by naming it ...
22
votes
6answers
1k views
red checkmark vs. a red “X”
I am currently designing a panel in my business application that shows a table of data to a user. The data in the table is the company's percentage (this is equated by many different values), whether ...
2
votes
2answers
78 views
Using icons as checkboxes?
How unusable is it to use icons as checkboxes?
It's a cool concept when it is implemented, however I am worried that it is not obvious that the icon is clickable. What are people's opinions about a) ...
0
votes
3answers
98 views
Are there any commonly used icons that don't internationalize well? [closed]
I am a UX designer for a software company, and our product has been translated for the following:
French
German
Italian
Spanish
Romanian
Japanese
Chinese
Are there any icons that are commonly used ...
6
votes
5answers
548 views
Why are icons on mobile phone menu screens square or rectangular but not circular?
If you take a look at the app page of any mobile OS, for example iOS, Android, Ubuntu, Win8, BADA, etc., they all have square icons, either with rounded corner or sharp corners (shown in the first ...
14
votes
4answers
911 views
How to best indicate navigation menu on mobile
What's the best way to indicate the navigation menu on mobile?
I see this three-bar icon being used a lot but do users really understand what it means?
Wouldn't a button simply saying "Navigation" ...
37
votes
7answers
921 views
How should you show that an accordion is expanded?
When you have an accordion, you need some way of showing the current state is expanded.
There are a number of different ways of handling this, and each is used by a number of respected websites and ...
-1
votes
5answers
397 views
Which icon in a native iPhone app's footer menu bar resembles 'sign-in'? [closed]
I'm looking for an icon that will live in an iPhone's footer menu bar that resembled 'sign-in'.
1
vote
3answers
328 views
What are best icons to identify/distinguish TCP and UDP connections [closed]
I have a desktop application that serves as a smart, software-based router. Each of multiple nodes in the GUI can be either a UDP or TCP connection. We have the following status icons for the node:
...
12
votes
6answers
509 views
Show/Hide Password Icon - Eye/ Closed Eye? Is the “Eye” icon offensive to any cultures?
I am on a project where we are implementing show/hide password functionality, and after significant research I discovered the 'Open Eye'/ 'Closed Eye' to be fairly standard.
Once this was implemented ...
2
votes
4answers
219 views
“This is Old” state icon [closed]
There are entities that have a state. The states until now are:
New (plus)
Valid (check)
Canceled (X)
And now I'm trying to introduce the "this is Old" state. How can I easily tell this to the ...
29
votes
4answers
2k views
Where should the GUI light source come from?
I know that historically the light source on GUIs is in the upper left, casting a shadow on the bottom-right of buttons and the upper left of fields. Now, I see some places (like Apple) use a top ...
6
votes
3answers
160 views
On log in form, what should a password unmask button look like and say?
On the log in form, I want to give users the option to unmask the password field so they can see what they type. The phrase "unmask password" is too technical and its purpose may not be apparent to ...
22
votes
7answers
2k views
What is the reasoning behind grayscale icons?
Quite a few web applications have started utilizing gray(black) scale icons, for example Github,new Google Analytics, etc. Even applications like Firefox 4, Chrome, IE9, iTunes, Mac OS, have dropped ...
-5
votes
0answers
29 views
How do I edit these icons with Gimp? [closed]
I'm a developer, not a designer, but I have spent some time on Gimp and generally find my way around it.
I have come across a great, free set of icons from brankic, at http://brankic1979.com/icons/. ...
4
votes
3answers
233 views
What unicode symbol should I use for EDIT?
I'm trying to keep a very light payload on a wordpress plugin I'm writing.
Users will be able to:
add - +
refresh - ⟳
edit
I'm thinking of using the pencil glyph: ✎, but I'm not sure about it. ...
8
votes
2answers
116 views
What design principles and/or guidelines we should use for vote-up/vote-down and counters?
Several times I have clicked the icons next to the counters totals (vote-up/vote-down) on YouTube while trying to vote up or like a video.
What are the design guidelines and/or principles for placing ...
4
votes
4answers
158 views
Battery - what percentage range to use for each color?
I need to display battery with 3 colors: green, orange (or yellow?) and red.
This device's battery (like iPad, iPhone etc..) with a battery life of up to two days.
What percentage range to use for ...
0
votes
3answers
214 views
Icon for “title” and “subtitle” [closed]
I am creating a template for TV programme details. For each programme, I have a title and a subtitle. Instead of writing "Title" and "Subtitle" in full, I was thinking of using an icon.
What icon ...
4
votes
2answers
81 views
Rearranging icons by most recently used
I am looking for some studies that examine how users perceive controls (e.g. navigational icons) that are rearranged based on most recently used. Also it would be interesting to see how rearranging ...
5
votes
1answer
139 views
Is there a widely-understood visual metaphor for privacy?
On our profile page, we're giving users choices among three privacy settings for each field.
The checkbox choices will not appear until a user highlights a particular field, but we do want to convey ...
0
votes
0answers
38 views
Icons for “Resources” or “Assets” and “Services” [closed]
I've been trying to brainstorm on this and look around but haven't come up with anything great yet. I need two icons. One that indicates "resources" or "assets" and another for "services".
The ...
-3
votes
0answers
48 views
Online CRM UX: Global Icons for Leads, Opportunities, Quotes - Global Sales Team Recognition [closed]
Looking for a repository or thoughts on icons used in the UI to represent the following CRM Sales activities: Leads, Opportunities, and Quotes (as in configuring an opportunity to suit a customer). ...
-2
votes
0answers
56 views
What should a System Icon look like? [closed]
I work for an enterprise software as the lead designer and am at a loss to find a good system icon ... the icon will be placed at every message/notification which is sent by the "system" eg. some one ...
9
votes
3answers
699 views
Are 3D icons better than 2D?
I've seen an increase of 3D icons in the recent past. I am not convinced they are better. Instead they may actually be worse because space is taken up by the projection.
Is there any evidence as to ...
1
vote
4answers
267 views
Is there a reason to use this icon with a confirmation message?
This is the message Sharepoint 2010 gives as a confirmation message for requesting access to a particular site you do not have access to.
I am quite confused by the icon - to me this looks like a ...
9
votes
6answers
988 views
Floppy disk icon for “Save” [closed]
It's funny that we still use floppy disks icon for save operation association while floppies have long been outdated, unused and many computer users nowadays don't even know how floppy disks actually ...
5
votes
5answers
340 views
Best way to display plus/minus or pros/cons short sentences
I have information in short sentences (bullet list) and each bullet could be pros/cons or plus/minus toward a product. What is the best way to display it nicely?
For example:
+ Price is cheap
+ ...
1
vote
1answer
179 views
What's an in between for a big red X and a big green check mark? [closed]
I'm trying to find ideas for a good, iconic, or not so iconic but still works, in between of a big red X and a green check mark.
The context is in a feedback popup to a short 3 - 5 question quiz that ...
23
votes
7answers
1k views
Help menu - “?” or “Help”?
It is a very simple question, but it has been bothering me for quite some time: when creating an application, should the help menu (in the menu bar) be called "?" or "Help"?
I can see a few ...
1
vote
1answer
42 views
Is there any good idiom for 'real time' or 'live' data? [duplicate]
The floppy disk is a good idiom for 'save', is there any good one for 'real time' or 'live' data?
I haven't found much on the interweb:
'fast text', this is meant for IM
A LOT of clocks in ...
-1
votes
0answers
50 views
Opensource Icons for my app? [closed]
I'm working on an opensource project in C# which is basically a small desktop application in WinForms. What I need is a set of icons/images to add to the UI elements such as toolbars and command ...
16
votes
7answers
2k views
The psychology of everyday shapes
We know a lot about colours and how they affect people, but what do we know about shapes? When choosing icons or logos, how do the shapes in them affect their perception?
Does anyone know of any ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
What are two good unicode characters I can use to represent “Likes” and “Dislikes”? [closed]
I'll be displaying YouTube Like/Dislike ratings for videos in a text-based format, so I'm using unicode's vast icon codepages as a way to display various things (such as star ratings, using U+2605 ...
9
votes
1answer
96 views
Marking contact as primary?
Currently in the application that I am designing, we are displaying just a short amount of contact information, which means that if the contact has 4 different numbers (i.e. mobile,home,work,fax), ...
2
votes
5answers
218 views
What is a sheet of UX elements called?
The Microsoft Ribbon is a like a tabbed "sheet" of UX icons. It's basically an iconified, horizontal version of an always-open menu.
Is there a general name for a group of UX buttons or icons, that ...
-2
votes
1answer
58 views
Appropriate Icon for a Subscribe or Subscription [closed]
What would be an appropriate Icon that could be used for Subscribe or Subscription. A subscription meaning; where a customer must pay a subscription price to have access to the product/service.
0
votes
2answers
53 views
How should I denote that one price has been replaced with different one?
I'm working on some retail software, for trade use. It lists a catalogue of items and the prices that the retailer should be selling them for.
Occasionally, however, the retail price in the system ...
7
votes
4answers
1k views
Best resources to make great reusable UI elements (icons/buttons/etc)? [closed]
I'm new to "crafting UIs", but I've been doing User Experience / Interaction design for a while. Being unable to design my own graphics has been a serious handicap for my work as I'm dependent on ...
5
votes
3answers
93 views
How would you distinguish “Sets” from “Folders” in a collection of tiles?
I'm displaying both Sets (which contain Cards) and Folders (which contain Sets) on the same page. Ideally they'll both be tiles. I'm not sure how to make it easy for the user to tell the difference ...
5
votes
4answers
250 views
Is is better to place text above or below icons?
This UX.SE question discusses the use of text above vs. below images & videos, and in general the answers say below.
I'm thinking that it must be different with icons, since their purpose is ...
1
vote
4answers
78 views
Is it acceptable to implement abbreviated elements and will users know what they mean?
More websites are including icons and visual elements over text allowing for more space and cleaner design. Elements like social icons (FB, Twitter), views, likes, favorite, comments, etc don't ...
2
votes
1answer
80 views
What is the use of a play icon with line next to it
We got a few general music player icons for playing and manipulating playlists.
> = play tune
>> = hold to move backwards in tune (or skip to next tune)
<< = hold to move forward in ...
1
vote
0answers
43 views
Should Social Media Icons Hold Present Color Value? [duplicate]
When designing a website should social media icons keep their established color value or can they be restyled to associate with your website's theme?
Can changing the icon colors impact the user?
...
-2
votes
1answer
57 views
Which icon to use for location button? [closed]
We're a supermarket chain with more than 500 stores. The find stores function in our smartphone app (Android/iPhone) should have a button for finding stores near the user's current location. The ...
