would you find it confusing if a megaphone icon was used to represent a phone call? [closed]

Question

Bit of an odd question, and I can't go into all the circumstances why I'm asking this, but anyway: would you find it confusing if a megaphone icon was used instead of a cellphone or telephone icon to represent the action of making a phone call and speaking to someone?

The megaphone does imply speaking out loud to someone, so in that sense it works, but on the other hand, it has no inherit meaning that indicates a phone call.

Would you find this stretched meaning unacceptable, or would you be o.k. with it?

Answer 1

Yes, I would find it confusing.

For me a megaphone signifies multiple people will hear. At a stretch it could be a call to a speaker phone, two or three people, e.g. teleconference. I wouldn't expect just one person, or to be hearing any reply from them. Megaphones are one way.

"it's more, 'hey, you're late on this and we need to talk'."

If you used a megaphone icon for this, at some subterranean level I'd think you were using free clip-art/icon that you happened to have lying around, rather than that you were doing it for a good reason. A way to find a more appropriate icon is to think what tooltip it would have, and then look at the keywords in that.

I'd find megaphone for "you're late, we need to talk" acceptable if the application were free, or if the whole application had been deliberately and consistently designed with a humorous quirky feel to it.

Answer 2

I mostly pair a megaphone with announcing something loudly.

In your branding you might be expressing the people should talk loud and speak and what not, but in the day to day (which should always be taken into account when doing UI) people are not doing that kind of talking on the phone. They are having private conversations, both sad and happy, they are doing business, they are talking to their cat, etc.

Branding can express more emotions and tap into certain feelings and beliefs. But UI should blend in and consider the day to day use.

So in conclusion, no because it references being loud and/or announcing something and people may be confused or turned off.

Answer 3

I would be confused.

"The megaphone does imply speaking out loud to someone..."

Correct.

"so in that sense it works..."

Incorrect. When did speaking aloud = telephone?

I have no frame of reference for megaphone = phone, and my wild guess is most other westerners don't. Challenging a user's likely perception can be a good thing - but it's dangerous and tricky to do.