a new computer graphics algorithm that is able to automatically generate visually distinctive icons (“VisualIDs”). it aims to add "scenery" (distinctive visual appearance) to desktop icons in order to fully exploit the visual & spatial abilities of humans while searching for files.
experiments show significantly improved speeds in a simulated file-finding task after only a few minutes of use, & with no training. this approach is based on the believe that the filename represents the meaning of the file to the user, & thus objects with similar (file)names should have similar visual identifiers.
see also visual brand recognition & comparitive icon study.
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information aesthetics.Where form follows data.
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Defintely interesting! Personally at first glance those icons didn't look so intuitive but I prefer to have a better look to the essay before a final comment. At the moment learning Japanese and use its alphabet seems to me a simpler solution :)
Very nice blog. But what's with the all-lower-case text??