An
iconic language combines elementary symbols (its vocabulary)
by a systematic formula (its grammar) to produce an
understandable icon (the unit of expression). To set up an
iconic language, we must design the elementary symbols and
lay down rules for combining them.
What makes a language
easy to design and to use? If you have studied a
foreign language, you spent a lot of time learning the words
of the language and the rules of how to combine them. If the
words were consistent in spelling and easy to pronounce and
the rules of combining them were few and simple, you
probably had a relatively easy time of it. The same
principles apply to designing and using iconic languages--
consistency and simplicity.
Large, complex systems benefit
most from a simple, consistent iconic language. Imagine that
you are charged with developing an iconic language for a
computer program used by draftsmen, engineers, architects,
technical illustrators, and other design professionals to
make precision engineering drawings. You might invent a
language with a grammar like this:
Abstract
This one-
day tutorial teaches a systematic way to develop icons and
other visual symbols. It shows how designers can develop
consistent sets of understandable icons by treating icons as
a language and applying accepted ergonomic
principles
Keywords:
icons, visual symbols,
pictographs, design, language
What is an iconic language?
A language is a symbol system that two people
use to communicate with oneanother. English is a language.
So are French, Chinese, Swahili, and pig Latin. By my broad
definition, mathematics is a language too. Charts and graphs
form yet another family of languages. The international
travel signs common in airports and rail stations make up
still another language. Our icons are a language too.
Command =
Action on Object by Method
Figure 1: Icon showing object, action, and
method
Actions are what the user does to or with elements. These include primitiveslike "draw", "erase", "measure", "paint", and "find".
Figure 2: Icons for basic actions
Objects are the geometric figures being created and manipulated. These include such items as "point", "line", "rectangle", "circle", and "block".
Figure 3: Icons for geometric objects
Methods specify how an action is carried out.
Figure 4: Icons for methods of defining geometric objects
With a clearly defined language, a new icon is generated by stating its conceptin terms of the grammar and vocabulary of the language. For example, we can make a slight variation on the initial example by changing just the method by which the circle is defined.
Figure 5: Icon for defining a circle by points at its center and edge
The icon for a different object using the same action and method can be created by simply changing the object part of the icon.
Figure 6: Icon for defining a rectangle by points at opposite corners
The icon for a different action is consistent with earlier designs because it relies on the same design grammar and vocabulary:
Figure 7: Icon for deleting a geometric object
References
Bertin,
Jacques. Semiology of Graphics. Green Bay, WI:
University of Wisconsin, 1983.
Bodmer, Frederick. The Loom of Language: An Approach to the Mastery of Many Languages. New York: W.W. Norton, 1944.
Bruce, Vicki and Patrick Green. Visual Perception: Physiology, Psychology and Ecology. Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1990.
Dreyfuss, Henry. Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1984.
Gombrich, E. H. Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.
Horton, William. The Icon Book: Visual Symbols for Computer Systems and Documentation. New York: John Wiley, 1994.
Humphreys, Glyn and Vicki Bruce. Visual Cognition: Computational Experimental and Neuropsychological Perspectives. Hove, UK: LawrenceErlbaum Associates, 1989.
Jones, Scott, Cynthia Kennelly, Claudia Mueller, et al. Developing International User Information. Bedford, MA: Digital Press, 1992.
