

Why Distinct Icon Outlines Help Users Scan Faster - waterhole
http://uxmovement.com/content/why-distinct-icon-outlines-help-users-scan-faster/

======
jannes
I've seen this exact advice in the Tango icon theme guidelines several years
ago:
[http://tango.freedesktop.org/Tango_Icon_Theme_Guidelines#Fre...](http://tango.freedesktop.org/Tango_Icon_Theme_Guidelines#Frequent_Mistakes)

But i think it only applies for low-contrast backgrounds, like in these
examples, for high-contrast backgrounds it doesn't necessarily make scanning
harder. It depends on whether multiple distinctive colors are used for the
icon itself. Icons without distinctive shapes often only use one colors for
the icon itself and another color (or even multiple colors) for the
background. I think this complicates scanning much more.

Also, removing unnecessary complexity from icons is almost always benefiting.
So, yes, if possible, you should remove meaningless background shapes.

~~~
palish
_"it only applies for low-contrast backgrounds, like in these examples, for
high-contrast backgrounds it doesn't necessarily make scanning harder"_

Not sure what you mean... It seems like these examples are _very_ high
contrast, no?

There are multiple places where a pixel is (255,255,255) and an adjacent pixel
is about (63,63,63), for example.

------
reso
Then why are all the icons in the iOS interface the same shape? I wonder if
this isn't a oversimplification.

~~~
jblow
Just because Apple did it doesn't mean it's good. Whoever made that UI design
decision did not understand the way human silhouette recognition works.

iOS icons are terrible. All the time on my iPhone I just find myself staring
at the screen not knowing where anything is. This never happens to me on the
PC.

It is just a bad style decision and I wish they would change it.

------
notatoad
yet another article about UI where the author presents a hypothesis as though
it were the conclusion of research. does nobody actually do usability testing
before writing?

