Icon identification in context: the changing role of icon characteristics with user experience

OBJECTIVE: This research examined the relative importance of icon characteristics in determining the speed and accuracy of icon identification. BACKGROUND: Studies to date have focused on the role of one or two icon characteristics when users first experience an icon set. This means that little is known about the relative importance of icon characteristics or how the role of icon characteristics might change as users gain experience with icons. METHODS: Thirty participants carried out an icon identification task over a long series of trials to simulate learning through experience. Icon characteristics investigated included semantic distance, concreteness, familiarity, and visual complexity. RESULTS: Icon characteristics were major determinants of performance, accounting for up to 69% of the variance observed in performance. However, the importance of icon characteristics changed with experience: Semantic distance is crucial initially while icon-function relationships are learned, but familiarity is important later because it has lasting effects on access to long-term memory representations. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that icon concreteness may not be of primary importance when identifying icons and that semantic distance and familiarity may be more important. APPLICATION: Designers need to take into account icon characteristics other than concreteness when creating icons, particularly semantic distance and familiarity. The precise importance of the latter characteristics will vary depending on whether icons are rarely encountered or frequently used.     

Study on the correlation and inhibition of visual marking and industrial icons

As a carrier of complex information, industrial icons play an important role in intelligent manufacturing systems, and the superiority of its visual presentation affects the visual search efficiency of operators. This paper applied the theoretical knowledge of visual marking to the study of industrial icons, and the relationship between the inhibitory mechanism of visual marking and the information characteristic, semantic categories and spatial layout of industrial icons is explored from the inhibition of location, feature, category and spatial structure in visual marking. The experimental results show that: in the aspect of feature inhibition, the 2.5D style inhibits the flat style and the complex icon inhibits the simple icon. In the aspect of category inhibition, the inhibitory degree of four different categories are warning, monitoring, equipment and production in order from high to low. In the aspect of spatial layout inhibition, the regular layout inhibits the chaotic layout and the orderly arrangement inhibits the disorderly arrangement. It is concluded that there is a certain correlation among the industrial icons’ inhibition of feature, category and spatial layout, and the priority of category is higher than that of feature, the spatial layout inhibition is jointly influenced by the inhibition of feature and category, among which category inhibition takes the lead role.     

Influence mechanism of icon semantics on visual search performance: Evidence from an eye-tracking study

Explicit icon semantics can reduce the difficulty of understanding complex visual information. Optimizing the icon semantics and text semantics of icons can effectively improve the cognitive performance of digital interfaces. This paper adopts visual search tasks to study the effects of different combinations of icon semantic familiarity and the presence or absence of text on icon search performance under horizontal and vertical layouts. The behavioral experiment results show that under two layouts: 1. The main effect of icon semantics is significant, and the search performance increases with the increase of semantic familiarity. 2. The main effect of text is significant, and the search performance is negatively correlated with the addition of text. The eye movement experiment found that the semantic familiarity of icons had a significant impact on average fixation time. Furthermore, the number of fixation points changed significantly after the text variable was added. Therefore, there was no significant difference in the number of fixation points in the horizontal layout, and icon semantics was the main influencing factor in visual search. In the vertical layout, there was no significant difference in average fixation time, and text was the main influencing factor of visual search. The results show that the semantic familiarity of icons and different combinations with or without text significantly affect visual search performance in horizontal and vertical layouts. This paper provides a theoretical reference for the combination of icons and text in interface design.     

EvIcon: Designing High-Usability Icon with Human-in-the-loop Exploration and IconCLIP

Interface icons are prevalent in various digital applications. Due to limited time and budgets, many designers rely on informal evaluation, which often results in poor usability icons. In this paper, we propose a unique human-in-the-loop framework that allows our target users, that is novice and professional user interface (UI) designers, to improve the usability of interface icons efficiently. We formulate several usability criteria into a perceptual usability function and enable users to iteratively revise an icon set with an interactive design tool, EvIcon. We take a large-scale pre-trained joint image-text embedding (CLIP) and fine-tune it to embed icon visuals with icon tags in the same embedding space (IconCLIP). During the revision process, our design tool provides two types of instant perceptual usability feedback. First, we provide perceptual usability feedback modelled by deep learning models trained on IconCLIP embeddings and crowdsourced perceptual ratings. Second, we use the embedding space of IconCLIP to assist users in improving icons' visual distinguishability among icons within the user-prepared icon set. To provide the perceptual prediction, we compiled IconCEPT10K, the first large-scale dataset of perceptual usability ratings over 10,000 interface icons, by conducting a crowdsourcing study. We demonstrated that our framework could benefit UI designers' interface icon revision process with a wide range of professional experience. Moreover, the interface icons designed using our framework achieved better semantic distance and familiarity, verified by an additional online user study.     

Development and validation of icons varying in their abstractness

Icons are used widely in human-computer interfaces. The level of abstractness-concreteness of an icon and its effect upon performance is of widespread interest. The authors have devised a quantitative measure for abstractness based on the complexity of the icon. They test their metric against subjective judgments of abstractness as identified by two different groups of subjects. After ranking two sets of ‘abstract’ and ‘concrete’ icons, the authors examined how well the icons were matched to the Pascal constructs that they represented. Further experiments were conducted using different groups of subjects to check whether correct matching of the icons with constructs was influenced by context. In summary the authors found that their metric was a good match for subjective measures of abstractness-concreteness. They also found that there is a better identification of concrete icons than abstract icons. Finally, it was shown that context does affect the correct identification of icons.     

From action icon to knowledge icon: Objective-oriented icon taxonomy in computer science

Icon plays a critical role in computer interface design. Studies on icon taxonomy explain the way in which various types of icon represent the objects and provide designers creation rules by which icons are more in line with users’ cognitive psychology. However, along with larger and larger use of icons, the previous classification criterion causes the boundary between categories blur. What’s more, Single classification standard is not able to well illustrate the icons applied in today’s computer applications. The purpose of this paper is to present an objective-oriented icon taxonomy which proposes to categorize icons into action icon and knowledge icon. To assess this proposition, we analyzed a sample of icons that applied in computer interface and suggest precise application domains to both action icon and knowledge icon categories. The results of this practice manifested that action icon and knowledge icon implied a high relation with applied environment and explicated the development trace of computer icons. This work is one of the first to point out the notion of knowledge icon and to highlight the importance of objective of icon application. Findings in this paper could enrich icon use in computer interface design, especially provides possible way to improve online knowledge sharing by visual tool like icon.     

The effects of icon internal characteristics on complex cognition

The interaction between humans and digital interfaces is a complex cognitive process which has a high demand on working memory resources. However, most previous research on icon perception seems to focus only on the influences of an icon's internal characteristics (e.g. visual complexity, concreteness and familiarity) on simple tasks such as visual search and recall tasks. The study reported here applied a math task to simulate the complicated process of human-computer interaction and investigated the effects of icon internal characteristics on the performance of complex cognition. First, we created and filtered 80 novel icons of 4 different types (simple & concrete, simple & abstract, complex & concrete, complex & abstract). Subsequently, participants were required to perform an icon-meaning recall task, during which icon familiarity was manipulated by different exposure frequencies. Finally, after viewing random icon-digit associations, participants' abilities to solve algebraic equations involving icons were tested. The results indicated that participants performed significantly better when the icons were simple, concrete or familiar and these beneficial effects increased as the task became more complex. Additionally, strong evidence was found to show that it was easier to encode and maintain familiar icons and associated information in working memory. The findings of this study provide useful information for the icon design and interface design of human-computer interaction.     

Interacting with VDL-based structured icons on crisis map for emergency coordination: Interactive design and experimental demonstration

Accurate and timely information sharing among multiple participants is one of the crucial factors for collaboration in crisis management. The icon-based map was frequently applied as an effective means for crisis interaction and collaboration. However, former studies only regarded the icons as supplementary visualization components during the whole crisis collaboration process. In this paper, the concept of a structured-icon-relied interactive method was proposed to directly integrate all kinds of crisis and coordination information through icons on the crisis map. Moreover, structured icons are supposed to explicitly show the correlation among crisis information and to improve the interactive experience of information search. The effectiveness of this interactive method was verified by a controlled experiment with three sub-tasks for simulated crisis rescue. The results of the experiment showed that the design of the crisis map based on structured icons had a positive impact on collaborative decision-making and crisis interaction. The dynamic characteristics of the structured icon could represent the temporal and spatial attributes of crisis information and enhance users’ crisis coordination ability. The study aims to enrich the theory of crisis information visualization and interaction based on structured iconic representation. In practice, this research could optimize the design of a crisis collaboration system based on the icon as well as the interaction between people, crisis information, and collaborative system, which in turn provides accurate and timely rescue decisions.     

Age-related differences in the initial usability of mobile device icons

Mobile devices offer much potential to support older adults (age 65+). However, older adults have been relatively slow to adopt mobile devices. Although much ongoing HCI research has examined usability problems to address this issue, little work has looked at whether existing graphical icons are harder to use for this population compared with younger adults. We conducted a qualitative exploratory study and a follow-up experimental study to determine which icon characteristics help initial icon usability for older adults. We found that our older participants did have more problems using existing mobile device icons, but that particular icon characteristics – semantically close meaning (i.e. natural, close link between depicted objects and associated function), familiar, labelled and concrete (i.e. those depicting real-world objects) – improved icon usability for them. We discuss how these findings can help icon designers to create mobile device icons that are more suited to the abilities and technology experience of older adults.     

Comparing the perspicacity,appropriateness and preference of web browser icons with Chinese users

This paper compares the perspicacity, appropriateness and preference of web browser icons from leading software providers with those of a culture-specific design. This online study was conducted in Taiwan and involved 103 participants, who were given three sets of web browser icons to review, namely Microsoft Internet Explorer, Macintosh Safari and culturally specific icons created using the Culture-Centred Design methodology. The findings of the study show that all three sets have generally high recognition rates in the region of 80%, but that some icon functions (e.g. Go/Visit and Favourite) in all three sets have poor recognition rates in the region of 60% and are considered inappropriate and below the ISO threshold of success.     

融合敏感词规则和字符级RCNN模型的用户意图识别

用户意图识别是基于用户对话用语识别用户的真实对话意图,是人机对话研究中的一项关键任务。针对现有用户意图识别方法的不足,提出融合敏感词规则和字符级RCNN模型的用户意图识别方法。构建敏感句子与敏感词词典,并通过规则及相似度匹配策略对特征明显的对话进行意图识别。针对类别特征不明显的对话提出深层语义分类模型,该模型以单字符串作为输入序列,利用RCNN模型构建意图分类框架,既可以避免分词结果不准确带来的错误传导问题,同时利用字符的分布向量表示方法还可以获取句子的深层语义信息。实验结果表明,该方法在两个数据集上都取得了较好的结果,明显优于传统的意图识别方法。     

Using icons to convey medication schedule information

We examined older adult comprehension and memory for medication schedules conveyed by different types of visual icons as well as text. Three icons were compared: a timeline, a pair of 12 h clocks (one for AM and one for PM hours) and a 24 h clock. In Experiment 1, older and younger participants paraphrased and then recalled schedules that were conveyed by the three icons or by text. Text and timeline schedules were paraphrased more accurately than either clock icon. Paraphrase errors suggested that subjects had trouble integrating schedule information across the two 12 h clocks. Analysis of paraphrase times showed that the text schedule was paraphrased most quickly, followed by the timeline, the 24 h clock and the 12 h clock. No differences were found for the accuracy of recalling the icon and text schedules. Experiment 2 examined free and cued recall after limited study time by older adults. Because text superiority in Experiment 1 may have reflected greater familiarity with text than with icons, recall was examined across four trials in Experiment 2. Text was recalled most accurately, followed by the timeline, the 24 h clock and the 12 h clock. Study-test trials did not influence recall. Text schedules may have been generally more effective than the icons because of their greater familiarity. The timeline may have been the most effective icon because it was more compact and familiar than the clock icons used in the study. The findings suggest that including such icons in medication instructions requires training.     

Effects of the aesthetic design of icons on app downloads: evidence from an android market

With the rapid development of the mobile app market, understanding the determinants of mobile app success has become vital to researchers and mobile app developers. Extant research on mobile applications primarily focused on the numerical and textual attributes of apps. Minimal attention has been provided to how the visual attributes of apps affect the download behavior of users. Among the features of app “appearance”, this study focuses on the effects of app icon on demand. With aesthetic product and interface design theories, we analyze icons from three aspects, namely, color, complexity, and symmetry, through image processing. Using a dataset collected from one of the largest Chinese Android websites, we find that icon appearance influences the download behavior of users. Particularly, apps with icons featuring higher colorfulness, proper complexity, and slight asymmetry lead to more downloads. These findings can help developers design their apps.     

词汇语义表示研究综述

构建能够表达语义特征的词语表示形式是自然语言处理的关键问题。该文首先介绍了基于分布假设和基于预测模型的词汇语义表示方法,并给出目前词表示方法的评价指标;进而介绍了基于词汇表示所蕴含的语义信息而产生的新应用;最后,对词汇语义表示研究的方法和目前面临的问题进行了分析和展望。
     

Perception-action icons: an interface design strategy for intermediate domains

OBJECTIVE: A prototype interface was developed to support decision making during tactical operations; a laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate the capability of this interface to support a critical activity (i.e., obtaining the status of friendly combat resources). BACKGROUND: Effective interface design strategies have been developed for domains that have primarily law-driven (e.g., process control) or intent-driven (e.g., information retrieval) constraints. However, design strategies for intermediate domains in which both types of constraints are equally critical, such as military command and control, have not been explored as extensively. The principles of direct perception, direct manipulation, and perception-action loops were used to develop a hybrid interface design strategy ("perception-action icons") that was incorporated into the prototype interface. METHODS: A qualitative tactical simulation and an alternative interface (an experimental version of an existing U.S. Army interface) were developed. Participants used both interfaces to provide estimates of friendly combat resources for three different categories of information at three different echelon levels. RESULTS: The results were unequivocal, indicating that the interface with perception-action icons produced significantly better performance. CONCLUSION: The perception-action icon design strategy was very effective in this experimental context. The potential for this design strategy to be useful for other intermediate domains is explored. APPLICATION: Actual or potential applications of this research include both specific interface design strategies for military command and control and general interface design principles for intermediate work domains.     

图符一致性对识别效率及可靠性的影响

针对已有研究对图符一致性的影响考虑还不充分的不足,采用被试内实验设计,研究了人机界面图符一致性对识别效率及可靠性的影响。实验共分五组：实验一建立图符形状与指代功能之间的联系（建立用户心理模型）;实验二考察图符外观/形状一致性的影响;实验三考察功能按键位置一致性的影响;实验四和实验五考察图符外观/形状与功能/语义匹配一致性的影响。五组实验的错误率差异的卡方检验结果为：实验四＞实验五=实验三=实验二=实验一;反应时差异的单因素方差分析结果为：实验五=实验四＞实验三=实验二=实验一。结论：外观/形式与功能/语义的“匹配/对应”是界面一致性的核心。相似图符形状指代原有功能时,识别存在学习的正迁移;图符外观一致而指代的功能不一致或反之（新图符指代原有功能）时,识别则会由于心理模型冲突而造成学习的负迁移,表现为识别效率和可靠性的降低。     

Matching performance of vehicle icons in graphical and textual formats

The current research classified 82 vehicle icons into seven categories (image-related, concept-related, semi-abstract, arbitrary, abbreviation, word, and combined) for their matching accuracy, matching sequence, and matching time. These data can be compared and used as a framework for future icon development. Forty participants, all with a university degree, took part in this experiment. Half of the participants had intensive driving experience, while the other half never driven a car. The results indicated that on average, word icons had a significantly greater matching accuracy than the other icon formats; ranging from 4.7 to 20.8% difference. Regarding the matching sequence, participants matched image-related icons before other icon formats. Arbitrary and combined icons took significantly longer to match than other icon formats by 1.4–6.2 s. Based on the high matching accuracy (86.3%) and high ratings on subjective design features, word format can be used for functions describable using simple English for users with English reading ability. Confusion matrices showed that 63.2% of the misunderstandings were caused by similarity in format or function.     

Is visual content in textual search interfaces beneficial to dyslexic users?

Dyslexia is a learning disability characterised by problems with accurate or fluent word recognition, poor decoding, and poor spelling abilities. Although several studies have addressed dyslexia and Web accessibility, less is known about how dyslexia affects information search. This study investigated whether the inclusion of icons in search user interfaces enhances performance among dyslexics. A total of 21 dyslexics and 21 controls completed 52 search tasks in 4 conditions: icons only, words only, and both icons and words in a grid layout and a list layout, while eye movements were recorded. Dyslexics took significantly longer than controls to locate targets in tasks containing text, but not in the icon-only condition. Dyslexics had longer fixation durations than controls in both icon and text based search arrays, suggesting higher mental load associated with search tasks generally. The addition of words to icon arrays led to faster search times within controls, but not dyslexics. Dyslexics also exhibited more fixations on dual-modality tasks, and longer scanpaths than controls in list layout. Both groups were fastest searching the list layout, with icons and words listed in columns. Results are discussed in terms of the design of accessible search interfaces for dyslexic users, taking into account mental load of dual-modality information display, and the arrangement of search items. Empirical data is provided for the design of accessible search results interfaces for dyslexics.     

Efficient Implementation of Semantic Relations in Lexical Databases

In this paper we develop a formalization of semantic relations that facilitates efficient implementations of relations in lexical databases or knowledge representation systems using bases. The formalization of relations is based on a modeling of hierarchical relations in Formal Concept Analysis. Further, relations are analyzed according to Relational Concept Analysis, which allows a representation of semantic relations consisting of relational components and quantificational tags. This representation utilizes mathematical properties of semantic relations. The quantificational tags imply inheritance rules among semantic relations that can be used to check the consistency of relations and to reduce the redundancy in implementations by storing only the basis elements of semantic relations. The research presented in this paper is an example of an application of Relational Concept Analysis to lexical databases and knowledge representation systems (cf. Priss 1996) which is part of a larger framework of research on natural language analysis and formalization.     

Impact of spatial auditory feedback on the efficiency of iconic human–computer interfaces under conditions of visual impairment

This paper investigates the addition of spatial auditory feedback as a tool to assist people with visual impairments in the use of computers, specifically in tasks involving iconic visual search. In this augmented interface, unique sounds were mapped to visual icons on the screen. As the screen cursor traversed the screen, the user heard sounds of nearby icons, spatially, according to the relative position of each icon with respect to the screen cursor. A software prototype of the design was developed to evaluate the performance of users in the search of icons within the proposed interface. Experiments were conducted with simulated visual impairments on volunteer participants to evaluate if the addition of spatial auditory feedback makes the interface more accessible to users with impaired vision. Results demonstrated that spatialization of icon sounds provides additional remote navigational information to users, enabling new strategies for task completion. Directions for future research are discussed and prioritized.