Icons are the versatile elements that save space by improving the balance of a layout. Controlling them in color and size is easy. Here, size means screen real estate. It can be considered that the icons, instead of images can reduce the number of requests exist on a page, and make it faster to load.
The icons are surpassing the bulleted lists wherein, swapping out conventional dots for icons helps improving readability and also breaking list uniformity. The lists are not only capable of establishing visual hierarchy aside from their ordering and also create a sense of equality among items. Icons break this convention, and each point is illustrated more effectively and independently.
Benefits of Icons
There are a lot of benefits to using icons in design, such as:
Icons are responsible for making good targets. They are large enough to be easily accessed in a finger-friendly UI.
Icons save screen estate. They are compact enough to display more content in a comparatively small space.
They are fast to recognize at a glance, which is particularly useful for standard icons people have seen and used before.
Icons are not converted for the international users, like for say an envelope.
Icons improve the aesthetic appeal of a design by bringing a delightful user experience.
Most of the apps use icons, and it is a design pattern that users are compatible with.
Why To Apply Icons In The Interface
There are several popular reasons to use icons in the interface:
to speed up the data perception.
enhance memorability of a element through the use of visual images.
improve navigation by visual markers.
save screen or page space when the long phrases or words are replaced with icons.
compatible with the copy material and providing its additional visual explanation.
follow general stylistic concept and its harmonic expression in a broader context.
Icons As An Integral Part Of The Apps
High-quality graphics help in improving the appearance of your app and enhance the overall user experience. Users are accustomed to pretty and meaningful graphics, and they look for the exact legacy and passion in the apps that they use.
It is necessary to notice below points to take out the best app performance-
Assure To Have Professionally Designed Graphics
Pretty and high-quality graphics have a great impact on the users. Unlikely, poor graphics give a wrong impression to the crowd and can degrade app’s overall quality.
Give priority to the graphics in your design and development process and offers a delightful experience to the users of your app.
Graphics Should Look Pretty In Full Screen
When the users are attempting a full-screen window, don’t just scale up your graphics to fit. A general rule here is to start with the artwork that is larger that is needed and then scale it below.
Make First Impression Alluring With a Beautiful App Icon
An app icon is the first experience you are giving to the users that can have a remarkable impact on their expectations. Treat your app icon as a calling card that can make the right impression on users by putting the necessary resources.
Also make a wise decision about whether your app is best represented by a realistic or graphic style icon. For example, the Garage Band app icon beautifully renders a guitar.
Types of Icons
Literal icons reflect their purpose genuinely. Recognized instantly and are great to use in interface design with novice users in mind. A good example of it is a piece of paper representing a document.
Metaphoric icons relates to an unrelated object by making a direct comparison. Such icons are engaging enough and rely on the user to make a connection. The concept of an idea can be best illustrated with a light bulb.
Universal icons use learned conventions and work best when used with the interface design. They also well represent physical objects.
Like for say, A floppy disk is known for the same purpose from years. Even those who have not seen or used a floppy disk in their life recognize this symbol as it has been invariably used in systems and applications.
Abstract icons create a learned connection by using form, color and arrangement. This icon design is often used to create distinctly recognizable elements like a logo.
A perfect example in this context is the Google Drive icon that makes the use of a multicolored triangle to transmit the concept of sharing and centralizing content, that is, the crux of the product.
Glimpse and Takeaway icons are the most important part of any web design to make it engaging enough so that the users will find it interesting to scroll over and click to grab more related information. If you also want to gain outstanding results with the icon usage, the facts mentioned above can help to a great extent.
