IVIC 2013: Advances in Visual Informatics pp 652-663 | Cite as

The Effects of Icon Characteristics on Users’ Perception

  • Syed Ghayas
  • Suziah Sulaiman
  • Muzafar Khan
  • Jafreezal Jaafar
Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, volume 8237)

Abstract

Modern mobile phone application interfaces have potential to support various age group users. Among the different age groups, older adults have been quite slow in adopting mobile phone applications and its interfaces. Limited research work has been carried out to investigate the graphical icons and examine its ease of use for various age group users. This paper presents an experimental study to determine the recognition rates of icons from two sets of users with different age groups i.e. younger adults (20 – 40 years) and older adults (+50 years). Users responded to a set of questions consisting of 40 icons obtained from two different brands of mobile phones. The findings reveal that recognition rates vary depending on how familiar the icons are to the users. The results from this study could be useful to support application developers to develop mobile phone applications interfaces that are more suitable for various age group users.

Keywords

interfaces icons icons characteristics usability familiarity recognition 

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. 1.
    Baecker, R., Small, I., Mander, R.: Bringing icons to life. In: Robertson, S.P., Olson, G.M., Olson, J.S. (eds.) Proceedings of SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), NewOrleans, Louisiana, USA, 27 April – 2 May, pp. 1–6. ACM Press, New York (1991)Google Scholar
  2. 2.
    Lindberg, T., Nasanen, R.: The effect of icon spacing and size on the speed of icon processing in the human visual system. Displays 24(3), 111–120 (2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. 3.
    Benton, A.L., Hamsher, K.: Multilingual aphasia examination manual. University of Iowa, Iowa City (1978)Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Hawthorn, D.: Possible implications of aging for interface designers. Interacting with Computers 12(5), 507–528 (2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Horton, W.: The icon book: visual symbols for computer systems and documentation. John Wiley&Sons, NewYork (1994)Google Scholar
  6. 6.
    Seaman, C.B.: Qualitative methods in empirical studies of software engineering. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 25, 557–572 (1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    Peirce, C.S.: The collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce. University Press, Cambridge (1932)Google Scholar
  8. 8.
    Heim, S.: Icons.The resonant interface: HCI foundations for interaction design, pp. 407–451. Addison Wesley, Boston (2007)Google Scholar
  9. 9.
    McDougall, S.J., Curry, M.B., de Bruijn, O.: Measuring symbol and icon characteristics: Norms for concreteness, complexity, meaningfulness, familiarity, and semantic distance for 239 symbols. Behavior Research Methods. Instruments, & Computers 31(3), 487–519 (1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. 10.
    Wiedenbeck, S.: The use of icons and labels in an end user application program: an empirical study of learning and retention. Behaviour and Information Technology 18(2), 68–82 (1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. 11.
    McDougall, S.J., de Brujin, O., Curry, M.B.: Exploring the effects of icon characteristics on user performance: The role of icon concreteness, complexity, and distinctiveness. Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied 6(4), 291–306 (2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. 12.
    Leung, R., McGrenere, J., Graf, P.: Age-related Differences in the Initial Usability of mobile Device Icons. Behavior & Information Technology 30(5), 629–642 (2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Alba, J.W., Hutchinson, J.W.: Dimensions of consumer expertise. Journal of Consumer Research 13(1), 411–454 (1987)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. 14.
    Luhmann, N.: Familiarity, confidence, trust: problems and alternatives. In: Gambetta, D.G. (ed.) Trust, pp. 94–107. Basil Blackwell, New York (1988)Google Scholar
  15. 15.
    Isherwood, S.J., McDougall, S.J.P., Curry, M.: Icon Identification in Context: The changing role of icon characteristics with user experience. Human Factors 49(3), 465–476 (2007)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. 16.
    Isherwood, S.: Graphics and Semantics: The Relationship between What Is Seen and What Is Meant in Icon Design. In: Harris, D. (ed.) EPCE 2009. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 5639, pp. 197–205. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    Galitz, W.G.: The Essential Guide to User Interface Design:An Introduction to GUI Design Principles and Techniques. Wiley Publishing, Indianapolis (2007)Google Scholar
  18. 18.
    Gardiner, J.M.: Functional aspects of recollective experience. Memory & Cognition 16, 309–318 (1988)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. 19.
    Dewar, R.: Design and evaluation of public information symbols. In: Zwaga, H.J.G., Boersema, T., Hoonhout, H.C.M. (eds.) Visual Information for Everyday Use: Design and Research Perspectives, pp. 285–304. Taylor & Francis, London (1999)Google Scholar
  20. 20.
    Blankenberger, S., Hainj, K.: Effects of icon design on human-computer interaction. Int.J. Man-Machine Studies 35, 363–377 (1991)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. 21.
    Howell, W., Fuchs, A.: Population stereotypy in code design. Organisational Behavior in Human Performance 3, 310–339 (1968)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. 22.
    Heard, E.: A symbol study-1972, Paper No 740304. Society of Automotive Engineers, New York (1974)Google Scholar
  23. 23.
    Easterby, R.S., Zwaga, H.: Information design. The design and evaluation of signs and printed material, pp. 277–297. J. Wiley & Sons, New York (1984)Google Scholar
  24. 24.
    Nielsen, J., Sano, D.: SunWeb: User Interface Design for Sun Microsystem’s Internal Web. In: Proc. 2nd World Wide eb Conf.: Mosaic and the Web, Chicago, IL, pp. 547–557 (1994)Google Scholar
  25. 25.
    Piamonte, D.P.T., Abeysekera, J.D.A., Ohlsson, K.: Understanding small graphical symbols: a cross-cultural study. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 27(6), 399–404 (2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. 26.
    Ghayas, S., Sulaiman, S., Jafaar, J., Khan, M.: Mobile Phone Icons Recognition: a comparative study. In: ICT-2013, Singapore (2013)Google Scholar
  27. 27.
    Jacko, J.A., et al.: Macular degeneration and visualicon use: deriving guidelines for improvedaccess. Universal Access in the Information Society 1(3), 197–206 (2002)MathSciNetCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. 28.
    Moor, K.A., Connelly, K.H., Rogers, Y.: A comparative study of elderly, younger, and chronically ill novice PDA users. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University. Technical Report TR 595 (2004)Google Scholar
  29. 29.
    Ziefle, M., Bay, S.: How older adults meet complexity: aging effects on the usability of different mobile phones. Behavior& Information Technology 24(5), 375–389 (2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Syed Ghayas
    • 1
  • Suziah Sulaiman
    • 1
  • Muzafar Khan
    • 2
  • Jafreezal Jaafar
    • 1
  1. 1.Computer and Information Sciences DepartmentUniversiti Teknologi PETRONASTronohMalaysia
  2. 2.Department of Computer ScienceCOMSATS Institute of Information TechnologyIslamabadPakistan

Personalised recommendations