“What does that funny squiggle mean?” Playlist - BBC Ideas
¶, &, @, ‽, ☺, #, and ☛.
Hamburger icon: How these three lines mystify most people - BBC News
The controversial hamburger icon goes mainstream with this story on the BBC News site.
It still amazes me that, despite clear data, many designers cling to the belief that the icon by itself is understandable (or that users will “figure it out eventually”). Why the aversion to having a label for the icon?
Related links
Letterform Archive – From the Collection: Blissymbolics
The fascinating story of Charles K. Bliss and his symbolic language:
The writing system – originally named World Writing in 1942, then Semantography in 1947, and finally Blissymoblics in the 1960s – contains several hundred basic geometric symbols (“Bliss-characters”) that can be combined in different ways to represent more complex concepts (“Bliss-words”). For example, the Bliss-characters for “house” and “medical” are combined to form the Bliss-word for “hospital” or “clinic”. The modular structure invites comparison to the German language; the German word for “hospital ” – “krankenhaus” – translates directly to “sick house”.
The Hamburger Menu Doesn’t Work - Deep Design
Building on Luke’s research, James outlines the problems with hiding navigation behind a hamburger icon. So, to be clear, the problem isn’t with the icon, so much as the way it is used as a cupboard to shovel all our messy navigation issues into.
Thomas Byttebier - The best icon is a text label
A look at the risks of relying on a purely graphical icon for interface actions. When in doubt, label it.
Origins of Common UI Symbols
A lovely little tour of eleven ubiquitous icons.
Related posts
Hamburger, hamburger, hamburger
Rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty.