

The Importance of Icon Metaphors - auston
http://louiemantia.com/blog/?p=9

======
doodyhead
He seems awfully biased towards Apple icons. Admittedly, some of their icons
use better visual metaphors, but I can't help but wonder if his preferences
have developed from his day-to-day use of Apple software, as opposed to
objective evaluation of the designs.

~~~
Angostura
I think most of his analysis is reasonable, certainly I think many of the Mac
icons work better at smaller sizes.

I think he cuts the Safari icon too much slack, however - I didn't realise
that there were continents painted in the background of the compass, and the
compass is fairly weak as a metaphor for the Web.

I think the Finder icon is poor too.

Disclosure: Another Mac user.

~~~
doodyhead
I wouldn't call it unreasonable; just biased.

I guess it's hard to be objective, given the pervasiveness of operating
systems. I'm sure if I ever succumb to Alzheimer's disease, my grandchildrens'
names will be forgotten long before I forget how to use Windows ;-)

------
tbrooks
"Designing the Obvious" by Robert Hoekman dedicates a whole chapter in his
book on supporting the user's mental model.

A great example he gives is deleting files. Instead of writing command line
prompts to delete files, users simply drag icons into a trash bin on their
desktop.

The visual metaphor of throwing something away is simple and it makes sense.

------
r00k
"Firstly, I want to apologize in advance, as I do not write often, and don’t
claim to be a good writer. Proceed with caution."

I liked his article, but this is just about the worst opening sentence I've
seen in a while. Yeesh. Have those thoughts if you must, but don't share them
with your readers.

