DOI: 10.5176/2251-1814_EeL12.13
Authors: Syed Ghayas, Suziah Sulaiman, Jafreezal Jaafar and Muzafar Khan
Abstract:
Mobile phone icons are diverse in terms of their design and use; thus, there is a need to explore their effect on users. This paper presents the evolution of icons in general and how they affect users’ perception, as determined by an icon recognition test. An experimental study was setup which involved thirty younger and older users evaluating a set of icons from two different mobile phone manufacturers. It was found that there are significant differences between icons and their recognition. This study also reveals that those set of icons represented by their corresponding real world objects improves users’ learnability across different mobile phones brands or made. On the other hand if abstract icons were used, a lower recognition rates was obtained. This led to a discussion on how the findings could help application interface developers to develop mobile phone icons that best suit the requirements of various age group users.
Keywords: Icon recognition, learnability, familiarity, complexity
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