Image & Representation

(material from: Designing Visual Interfaces by Mullet and Sano)
 

Images are particularly important in three areas:

• identification
• expression
• communication

a sign is 'something that stands for someone or something in some respect or capacity.' It is the product of a 3-way relation between the representamen (that which represents), the object (that which is represented), and its mental interpretant (the intelligence doing the substitution)

3 levels

• syntactics - internal structure of the representation
• semantics - relation between the sign and the meaning of the sign
• pragmatics - effectiveness of the syntax/semantics for a particular person/community

representation depends on establishing a clear relationship between a representation and its object

• icon - denotes its object by virtue of its own likeness or resemblance to the object
• index - refers to the object indirectly, by means of an association
• symbol - denotes the object by convention alone

Principles:

• Immediacy - should be recognized at a glance without having to analyze it
• Generality - imagery is normally used to represent a class of objects, not a particular instance - abstraction creates generality
• Cohesiveness - as in the previous week, images are not viewed in isolation but as part of an overall system - shared components and individual components
• Characterization - function by focusing on essential characteristics
• Communicability - interpretation depends on the creator and viewer sharing a common environment (physical, cultural, conceptual)

Common Errors:

- misleading syntax - what do these tell me?


   
 

answer: takeoffs and landings (plane viewed from the top, arrow viewed from the side)
 
 

- poorly integrated structure

if you need to think about the image and especially if you have to break the image into pieces to understand it, then it doesnt work

a        what does this mean?
b     images that differ in just the direction of an arrow are hard to parse
 
 

- dominant secondary elements - While its good to have a certain amount of regularity, those regular elements should not be the focus of the images


 

- using type as image

 
 

- using images for abstract concepts

hard to find appropriate images for abstract concepts
a - here is where balloon help is really useful to try and put some text on the screen to ID these icons
b - boomerang for 'no-op'?
c - does the stairway suggest sort ascending and sort descending
d - step through a macro?
 
 

- images based on obscure allusions

a - master task list (stove icon, things you want to do someday but aren't scheduled for a particular day - on the back burner)
b - magnet movies an entry from one page to another in an appointment book, axe tool breaks links established by the anchor tool, footprints are backtrack
c - label looks more like a price tag, scrolled text?
 
 

- culture or langauge dependencies

a- defaults, screen dump, C-shell, hello world
b - DOS icon is an image of the original IBM PC - remember those
c - debugger
d - (apple for the teacher?)
e - spelling
f - back burner
g - drag on
 
 

- offensive or suggestive imagery

a - kill icon from next-step
d - gestures are culturally based, gun for killing tasks

Techniques:

• selecting the right vehicle
• refinement through progressive abstraction
• coordination to ensure visual consistency

Selection

1. if the concept is a concrete, familiar object or a tangible, externally obvious state, use an iconic sign
2. if the concept will be used repeatedly throughout an application or environment, consider establishing a conventional symbolic or indexical sign, especially if an existing sign can be borrowed from the 'real' world'
3. in most other cases - and particularly when the concept is an abstract process or a subtle transition between states - a textual label should be used
4. avoid the mixing of purely textual, iconic and indexical or symbolic signs
   

Refinement

1. determine the appropriate level of abstraction based on the subject matter, audience, and display resolution
2. begin with an image seen from the viewpoint including the most characteristic contours
   
3. use the trace overly technique to rapidly develop a series of drawings derived from the original image. Omit details until only the most essential or characteristic elements remain. Experiment with different combinations of elements to identify those that best characterize the object
4. simplify complex shapes into regular geometric forms. 
   
5. eliminate contour information that is not required for recognition of the object. Experiment with negative space to suggest contours.

Coordination

1. begin with sketches of the full set of images 
   
2. use a similar point of view and type of perspective for each image. Determine the predominant viewpoint and redraw any divergent images from the new perspective
3. use a similar form of representation and level of abstraction (i.e. dont combine icons with symbols)
4. use a consistent size, orientation, layout, color, and overall visual weight for each image. Use a layout grid to help insure consistent internal structure across images
5. wherever possible, use the same elements - including line weights, curvatures, textures, and forms - throughout the image set. 
   

So here is another in-class experience. Lets take a look at the 2008 KDE Desktop Preferences icons.

Your group should rate each of these icons on a scale from 1 (low) to 10 (high) and then pick 5 of your least favorite icons and come up with improved versions by the end of class.



and here are the results showing the min | average | and max score:




Last term we took a look at the icons for KDE 3.4: