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.
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? ...
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.
...
93
votes
10answers
6k views
Do unique icon contours help people scan?
Many years ago, I ran across a good icon design tutorial. It said that having unique contours to icons help users scan for the item they're looking for. If this is true, why don't iPhone and Android ...
44
votes
15answers
3k views
Where could I find some free/commerical stock icon packs? [closed]
What are some free/commercial stock icon sets?
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?
37
votes
7answers
932 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 ...
36
votes
22answers
3k views
What would be a good non-religious icon to represent that a person has died? [closed]
I have an application that displays information about people in an organization and their accomplishments in the organization. It is non-religious in nature and members can be of any or no religion. ...
34
votes
8answers
1k views
What would be a good way to thumbnail audio?
I want to represent an audio file in an image with a maximum size of 180×180 pixels.
I have been thinking about something similar to what Soundcloud does, although it will require some chopping and ...
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 ...
23
votes
5answers
1k views
How do you use an icon to represent 'click once' (not twice) [closed]
I need to teach my users to use issuu.com's interface -- click once to zoom in.
If they double click, it zooms in then out again. I can't change issuu's component so want to add something on my web ...
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 ...
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 ...
22
votes
12answers
2k views
Most intuitive delete icon [closed]
I'm redesigning the products admin panel for a marketplace web-app where the user can add/edit/delete products. There isn't to much space available so I need to use icons for edit and delete. What do ...
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 ...
21
votes
7answers
736 views
Most intuitive favorite icon [closed]
Similar to Stefan's most intuitive delete icon question.
I'm designing a web app that allows users favorite pages. A lot of big sites use either a heart or star symbol -Which one is most intuitive?
...
19
votes
7answers
917 views
Are grayscale buttons with icons usable and effective?
The image here is
old gmail
new gmail, when no mail is selected
new gmail, when mail is selected
new delicious
To me, the buttons are unlabeled and tough to discover.
I don't believe the ...
19
votes
4answers
786 views
How do you create or select an icon for a feature?
How do you work out what icon type or image you need for a feature?
There's been quite a lot of very small questions here in the form of "What is a good icon for feature X?".
Instead we should be ...
18
votes
14answers
2k views
What's a good icon to represent how difficult a task is to do? [closed]
I am working on an application where users get to rate various things. In one category, they are rating how "good" something is, and so I put together a little 1-5 rating system with star icons, like ...
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 ...
15
votes
3answers
3k views
Is Apple's or Google's meaning of the three-horizontal-bar icon more popular?
Apple and Google are going head-to-head to define meaning of the three-horizontal-bars icon:
In iOS this icon means "drag me to rearrange items in a list" while Google Chrome's version means "click ...
14
votes
8answers
1k views
Icon for “factory reset” [closed]
I'm having a hard time finding an appropriate icon for "factory reset". At the moment, I have a "warning" icon, but I am looking for something less aggressive and more to the point.
14
votes
6answers
684 views
Consistent UI experience
Shouldn't a user interface be as consistent as possible?
I believe when a user uses an interface, he experiences certain behavior from the interface, and tries to couple those experiences to the rest ...
14
votes
4answers
949 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" ...
13
votes
5answers
2k views
Why are search icons represented by a magnifying glass?
Why do so many applications and websites use a magnifying glass as a search icon ? A magnifying glass is a tool used to have a better view of small objects. It suits perfectly as an icon for a zoom. ...
13
votes
5answers
1k views
How to represent level of difficulty while selecting a game?
I am working on a menu to select from various (3) game variants shown from top to bottom, each variant offering different difficulty levels.
The difficulty will be selected by swiping (touch input ...
12
votes
1answer
675 views
Using wheelchair symbol in CAPTCHAs?
More and more websites that use CAPTCHAs have started to cater for visually-impaired users who cannot solve a visual (text-based) CAPTCHA by providing an audio CAPTCHA.
What I find bizarre is that ...
12
votes
11answers
533 views
“Tool” or “target” on vacuum cleaner pedal?
I always get confused by the icons on my vacuum cleaner pedal.
Take a look at the upper icon.
Is that icon representing
1) The tool. I.e. "Your now using the pedal without the brush" (ergo, on a ...
12
votes
6answers
748 views
Icon for cancel action to distinguish from delete icon [closed]
I'm dealing with a space sensitive environment where I have a Save/Cancel actions that need to be icons. In the same area the user can also delete items, using something similar to the one in this ...
12
votes
6answers
510 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 ...
12
votes
4answers
2k views
Which way should arrows point in a collapsible accordion? Left/down … down/up?
What is the best way to indicate that it's possible to open and close an element accordion-style?
Arrow pointing left/arrow pointing down
Arrow pointing down/arrow pointing up
Plus sign/minus sign
… ...
11
votes
6answers
1k views
Multiple choice with Yes, No and 'No answer'
I am working on a Quiz Application for Multiple Choice question. Instead of normal Multiple Choice Questions with the two answers yes and no. I am working on one that allows a user to abstain to a ...
11
votes
5answers
4k views
What is a good icon for illustrating expand (and collapse) all? [closed]
I'm trying to devise an icon to indicate that when it is clicked, it will collapse all the nodes in a tree. The tree contains profiles which already have an icon, so ideally I'm looking for a ...
11
votes
6answers
861 views
full-color icons vs. greyed-out icons in menus
Icons in menus are often full-color. Even though the page an icon/menu item controls is not active, the icon still appears in its normal hues. To distinguish the icon which is active, a designer will ...
11
votes
2answers
1k views
Do iOS / WP users recognize the Android share icon?
I've been assigned the task to add an icon / CTA to enable users to invite people to our application from their contact list.
Due to width restriction, especially with localization, one of the ...
10
votes
3answers
526 views
Best practice for Navigation usability? [closed]
I'm currently working on a social network type system, and was wondering about the best practice for navigation. Would it be better to use Icons or Text? I was thinking a mixture, icons for some ...
10
votes
4answers
343 views
How to tell the user that an input box is autocomplete-enabled?
Is there a good graphical sign which tells the user that a particular field on the page is autocomplete enabled?
For instance, the field name says "Document author". When you start typing in that ...
10
votes
1answer
472 views
What's a good alternative to flags for depicting internationalisation as an option?
Are flags a bad idea?
In various comments on How to design a multi-language website?, several designers voiced their concern for the use of flags as a symbol to represent language switching on a ...
10
votes
2answers
422 views
Icon-only navigation bar for a desktop application?
I am working on a groupware application running as a desktop application (not in the browser). I wanted to keep the interface really simple and minimalistic so my users will not get distracted by a ...
9
votes
9answers
6k views
Symbol for “Swipe Left” [closed]
I'm working on an app that displays a list of ten items (text items) on the screen at a time. If there are more than ten items, the user should be able to "swipe" from right to left to see the next ...
9
votes
6answers
989 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 ...
9
votes
3answers
724 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 ...
9
votes
7answers
1k views
Best Icon for minimize [closed]
I'm always struggling with choosing the correct icon for minimizing action.
For ex: In accordions menu or on panels that can be minimized what would be the best icon :
An arrow that rotates like ...
9
votes
4answers
368 views
For a web-app, how to differentiate “cluster” marker icons from normal icons on a map?
We have a map with around a dozen different kinds of markers, and there are too many to display at once so we're using cluster icons to represent multiple markers that are close together.
What ...
9
votes
4answers
601 views
What symbols can I use to represent different levels of probability? [closed]
I have an app where I need to show how likely an item is, e.g. "very likely", "quite likely", "not very likely". What kind of icons could I use to show this?
I don't need any pre-made icons, I would ...
9
votes
2answers
606 views
CRUD Operations icons vs. menu
What would you suggest the best practices for CRUD operations options.
Consider the following design; Should i keep icons for each operation or create a drop down menu with all the options inside?
...
9
votes
6answers
598 views
Colliding icon meanings
In the interests of fitting in with design guidelines and not wanting to endlessly push icon pixels, I try and use Android's1 built-in icons as much as possible. Occasionally, that means combining ...
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), ...
9
votes
1answer
1k views
Microsoft Visual Studio 11 - why would they use uppercase in UI?
Microsoft has been very transparent with their updates to Visual Studio 11. It includes a huge change to the UI design of the entire IDE, most notably colour themes, icons and capitlization.
In their ...
9
votes
4answers
465 views
Alternates to the “play/pause” button
I've never been happy with the old 'iTunes' model ("flip-flop" buttons; see this question) where the play and pause are the same button, with an icon showing what state you can go to (Play when you're ...
9
votes
1answer
1k views
Are the Metro UI icons poor for usability?
While looking at Metro UI styles I thought about one of the unique aspects of the icons. Their placement inside circles. E.g.
I can imagine that this provides a target like effect, emphasising the ...
