Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
rationalize their choice of token, but if Mom chooses the wheelbarrow, you
might remember that by associating the piece with her love of gardening, or
if Tim chooses the top hat, you might associate it with his passion for acting.
There is no right or wrong interpretation of a choice of representation. It
simply serves as a device for remembering which tokens represent whom. In
the same way, icons serve a useful function even when the mapping to data
is not immediately self-evident.
Tip
A conceptually strong and distinct icon serves as a mnemonic device,
even when the data it represents is not immediately self-evident.
So, if icons don't always need to be immediately self-evident to be useful,
where can you go wrong when using them? Icons can destroy a perfectly
good visualization in a number of ways. The first and most obvious one
is through confusion. Icons need to not only be conceptually and visually
distinct from each other, but they also need to be distinct from types (or
expected types) in the data that they do
not
represent. If an analyst is
regularly confusing the mapping of an icon with a different data type, it will
continually be a source of frustration.
More common pitfalls have to do with the visual design execution of an
icon. The first is an icon that is too intricate and overly complicated. An icon
shouldhaveaclearandrecognizable dominant shape.Itshouldnotlooklike
a series of chicken scratches. Related to that, it should have a fill area of
reasonable size, and that fill area should be relatively consistent across the
family of icons. The amount of “ink” that an icon is given to show meaning
(that is, its
perceptual budget
) should be the same as other icons drawn
at the same scale. Icons should generally also be designed to be relatively
square—that is, their width and height should be similar.
Tip
Design icons with a recognizable dominant shape that is relatively close
in width and height. Use a relatively uniform fill density across icons.
Misuse of color is also a common issue. You should not use color for icons
except to represent data. You should not use color to communicate the
construct used as the symbol. Use of color creates too much visual “noise,”
