EFFECTS OF ICON DESIGN ON HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION

After subjects practised using a pointing device (two-button mouse) for selecting icons on a computer screen, the effect of "articulatory distance" (i.e. the difference between a picture and its meaning) on performance in menu-selection tasks was analysed. Three icon sets with different articulatory distances and one text set were constructed, validated and tested in a "search and select" experiment with icon positions randomized on the screen. This was contrasted with an experiment in which icons were to be selected from fixed screen positions. Results indicate that articulatory distance indeed had an effect on reaction time in the first design, but not in the latter. A recognition task was finally given to decide whether articulatory distance could influence memory for icons. The fact that subjects were able to recode icon meanings to screen positions after some training backs the everyday experience that icon design seems to be of little influence on the performance of advanced users. Icon-oriented interfaces are aimed, however, at the computer novice. © 1991 Academic Press Limited.