Icons and Symbols in Designing User Interface: Strategies for Effectiveness

Purpose-The present article attempts to evaluate the effect and function of visual symbols and icons in optimizing the functionality of graphical user interfaces for appropriate and efficient use.
Design/methodology/approach-The survey was conducted through the study of related information resources, as well as comparison and qualitative analysis of the role of visualization processes in the use of graphical user interfaces.
Findings- The findings of the study revealed that some of the influential factors in visualization– layout and style, texture, color, font and writing method, icon, symbol, design, and balance—play an important role in improving the graphical user interface usage. Furthermore, the interaction of various elements such as form, font, layout, background, direction, dimension, movement, embossing, solidity and animation of symbols lead to an improved user interface quality.
Conclusion- Using a visual approach in the user interface produces better results at various levels of information acquisition. Due to its unique approach to icon usage, conducting this study required considerable comparison of influential factors, and special analysis of elements which have been given little attention in papers about visualization. This study may help user interface designers and information experts to ameliorate visualization processes for the purpose of improving user interface quality.