It's half-time in our series of icon tests, time to think about the final analysis. In general we want to analyze the effects of various aspects of icon design like use of color and details, flat or not, and the metaphor on the overall performance of an icon set. As a first idea we have the following dimensions in mind:

• colorfulness (from monochrome to rainbow spectrum)
• level of details (from simple to very detailed)
• abstractness (from symbolic to descriptive)
• playfulness (from plain to bitsy)
• metaphor (form far-fetched to perfect fit)
  (all in five steps or so)
• spatiality (flat vs. 3D)
• decoration (singular vs. altered)

The question is whether or not experts (icon designers) can categorize the sets (or maybe every icon) on those dimensions. What do you think, should we add or remove dimensions, use better phrases, or different scales? As depending variables we will have the response time and true/false associations.

Here is the material we used so far and will test in the next episodes, respectively:

I think only icon designers can really say which dimensions make sense, but here are some comments:

metaphor (form far-fetched to perfect fit)

That's in the eye of the beholder, isn't it? I assume every icon designer aims for the "perfect fit" from their own perspective. What counts is whether users associate the chosen metaphor with the actual meaning. So I think the metaphor fit should be drawn from the results form the study instead of being evaluated by the people creating the themes.

decoration (singular vs. altered)

Okay, tbh, I don't understand what you mean by "singular vs. altered decoration" at all...

The other dimensions sound good to me!

Thanks for taking the time. With decoration I have the small modifier in mind that often alters a simple sheet to the new function, for instance. Another example would be print preview or save as.

Heiko Tietze wrote:Thanks for taking the time. With decoration I have the small modifier in mind that often alters a simple sheet to the new function, for instance. Another example would be print preview or save as.

Ah okay. Hm, now how to label it so that people will understand it without your explanation?
Maybe something like "Composition (unique vs. composite of other icon and decoration)"?