[Sigia-l] Iconic paradigms

[Timothy Karsjens]

Ziya,

what do your users think about the iconic paradigms?

i do a lot of digital video editing, and the funny thing is that i find the programs that do not use the standard iconic paradigms for editing  that you mention below significantly more difficult to use.  

this is reminding me of a conversation that i had with a project manager two or so years ago.  i was putting together a ui framework for a massive travel application and he disagreed with the icons that i chose to represent some functionality.  he did not like the usage of a floppy disc, as an example, to represent, as well as the text string, that the user could save the travel package in the middle of building it.  his thoughts were that floppy discs are no longer used.  

so, to test, i took the text strings out, made two different modules.  one had the disc, the other had the icon that he suggested, which was a filing cabinet.  i separated our users into two different groups, wrote up the task that they were to complete, which was to put together a travel package.  in the middle of their process, i said, "okay, save and exit the program".  the project manager was not very pleased when his filing cabinet was not immediately recognized as the save button, while the group with the disc immediately recognized the functionality.  he even went so far as to tell the users what to click and one of them looked at me and ask, "why on earth did you use a filing cabinet for the save icon?"

being the good consultant i am, i simply stated that we were testing the stickyness of different icons and we will definitely move towards the more recognized disc icon to represent the save process.

so, tangeantal story aside, what do your users think?

--timothy karsjens

 -------- Original Message --------
> From: Listera <listera at rcn.com>
> Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2005 1:40 AM
> To: SIGIA-L <sigia-l at asis.org>
> Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Iconic paradigms
> 
> Pradyot Rai:
> 
> > However, I am not sure why anybody would decouple physicality from inference?
> 
> Because abstract concepts are hard to capture in iconic symbols, we often
> end up using physical objects for representation. Is a pencil the best icon
> for communicating the notion of editing? Is a closed padlock the best icon
> for every variation of the notion of security, safety, authentication, etc?
> 
> I don't know. I hope not. I see many of these established conventions as
> mere preponderance of usage, not much else.
> 
> For instance, at the moment, I am building a webcasting studio that's 100%
> digital, no analog cameras, switchers, tape...nothing analog. Convention
> says, use a videocassette, a clapboard, silhouette of a movie camera, a TV
> set with rabbit antennas, etc to denote the notion of videostreaming.
> Unfortunately, webcasting doesn't use any of those physical objects. In fact
> the unique advantages of webcasting emanate from not using those objects,
> instead being purely digital.
> 
> So I am thinking, why should I use the equivalent of a pencil as an icon
> denote editing when it has no role in the process at all? And I wonder, what
> would Jakob do? :-)
> 
> ---- 
> Ziya
> 
> Best Practices,
> For when you've run out of your own ideas and context.
> 
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