icons used in transmogrified

[kaigou]

Title:
icons used in transmogrified

Area:
icons, usability

Summary:
The icon used for "filtered post" in transmog style is identical to the icon traditionally used to indicate "protected from viruses": a shield.

Description:
Could we possibly get that "filtered" icon* changed to something more intuitive? Or at least to something less misleading?

I know the notion of "filter" is a hard one to create an intuitive icon for, but honestly, the one being used doesn't make me think "filter"; it's too much like the MacAfee and DiskWarrior styled shield icon/badges. Every time I see a post with that on it, my first reaction is, "how the hell did a virus get into my post?" as though the icon is trying to alert me that my post has been cleaned. I see the icon nearly daily, yet it's still losing its uphill battle against nearly a decade of "shield = VIRUS!!" reinforcement. 

ETA: icon in question is

Other applications using a variation on the shield-shape: Norton Antivirus, Windows Network Security, eScan Virus Check, Windows Anti-Virus Software, Hotspot Shield, Symantec Antivirus, A-Squared Anti-Malware, Spy Sweeper, Windows Updater (tray icon), Ewido Anti-Spyware, AVG Anti-Spyware, Anti-Malware 2009, Sophos Anti-Virus, USB Disk Security, Orbasoft ApS [...and more but I got tired of typing.]

UPDATE 8/21: proposed icon on the boards (see comments) is by Turlough, using two silk icons together:

From a usability perspective, "filter" is one of the hardest concepts to iconify, because it's not a concrete thing. (I've even seen "flour sifter" used as "filter"-icon, and how many people still know what that is?) The difficulty is perfectly illustrated by the fact that DW's "filter" icon isn't even "filter"-like, but instead is trying to riff off the idea of "shielded".

In a new application, we can and do learn new icon-meanings, which may complicate the learning curve but afterwards we're savvy. In this case, though, DW is trying to pre-empt an icon that has a well-established meaning. That makes for some major cognitive dissonance. I'd say I'm pretty savvy usually, but I keep stumbling when I check the settings after posting. If it's late, or my eyes are tired, a few times I've even automatically clicked on the little shield, nervously expecting a message to pop up from DW about how I just got stopped from sending the I-love-you-virus to everyone on my flist. Or something equally horrendous.

Either come up with an icon that does relate to the concept of "filter" (good luck, because it is hard) OR shift the semantics to a word that can be illustrated more easily (much as 'shielded' -> 'protected' does) and transition in a new/unfamiliar icon to go with it.

* I have no idea whether the icon is consistent in all styles; I'm only familiar with transmog to any degree.

Poll #1056 icons used in transmogrified

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 50

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
19 (38.0%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
12 (24.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
10 (20.0%)

(I have no opinion)
9 (18.0%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[kaigou]

at least it's so bizarre that I don't interpret it as anything else, I just go 'WTF?' periodically

hah, it's good to hear I'm not the only one. That's the trick with iconage: either you pick something so clearly established for the purpose (like the 'printer' icon we're all used to seeing by now) or you pick something so off-the-wall that you can create a connection from scratch.

[afuna]

The bell, IIRC, was there because you get notifications == alerts (and there was nothing else which clearly established the purpose which fit the bill *g*)

[kaigou]

Yah, yah, the logic's there once you think about it. Though personally, I got more used to the bell once I got used to also seeing it in the Mac system -- part of that "when you see it in similar use on a daily basis, you connect the concept" which is what makes icons so easy, and yet so hard.

[afuna]

Yes! Like the shield icon above!

*ducks*

[kaigou]

So you're saying when I see it I should be thinking "omfg, dw intercepted a sudden attack of the melissa virus!" ?? oh, well, I feel so much safer now! /snark

hehe.

(no, seriously, what was wrong with just using a variation on the 'lock' image? a 'filter' is really just a subset of the locked-post/friends-only concept. honestly, if I were assigning icons, I'd argue more for a shield being related to the age-designation on posts, in the sense of "shielded from too-young eyeballs" or some such. although come to think of it, some kids are kinda like viruses...)

[afuna]

I think it was a matter of needing to make the image, and possibly having difficulty fitting that much information into such a small space, or difficulty in creating the image from scratch.

But if we have a reasonable alternative, which is more automatically intuitive, I personally do not think there will be much of a problem replacing it (denise and mark have final say, of course!)

[afuna]

Huh, that's a particularly gorgeous sort of brilliant. I like it!

[kaigou]

Look down at the bottom of the page for turlough's silk-icon adaptation. It's a lock+a tag, sort of like LJ's double-locks but (I think) even more intuitive than the double lock, because it's saying it's a tagged-locked post, which if you think about it, very much fits what filters are: they do get their own tags in the post info, after all.

So if we were voting for icons, that one would get my vote, plus it's using the same icon set as its basis, so visually it's also seamless.

[willow]

+1

[archangelbeth]

Lock + Tag looks good to me, too.

[willow]

I guess it's a sign I don't use DW nearly enough. Because to this day I still thought the bell was for reporting inappropriate comments/spam - since it makes me think of an alarm.

[triadruid]

That's what I thought, too.

[kaigou]

I'm used to seeing a red flag (as in, "flag this content") for alarms or issues that need reporting. But I will admit I spent several minutes the first time I saw the bell, wondering if clicking on it would make the post expire! Because that's how I'm used to seeing it in calendars & mail & so on: it tells you when time is up. Although I suppose one could argue that the bell tells you when an event is occurring, I'm just more used to alarm = "one task has completed" (eg, sleeping), with implication that new task begins. For a long time, I just avoided the bell on LJ, not sure if it'd mean I'd have to redo the comment later, or some wackiness like that, or if it'd tell me after X time that no one had replied...

Not that it gives me issues now, having been Properly Trained, but still, I always find it amusing how our brains react to, process, and then finally get indoctrinated on, new symbology.

[kyrielle]

It got better once I figured out it was a bell (though it's not making noise/alerting when I press it!). At first I thought it was one of those little whisk brooms, and that was really WTF! ;)

[kaigou]

Heh. I can't recall now what I did think it was, but I know "a bell" wasn't my first reaction. Although if we're going about rewriting the entire bloody icon world, I'd opt for replacing the bell with an RSS icon -- because that's basically what it is, eh? You're subscribing to the post or the person or whatever, and getting updates, which is covered now (generally) by RSS -- and it's getting more and more common to subscribe not just to an entire blog (ie a flist member) but to specific comments and threads.

Although if we're talking icons, then IMO, I frankly can't see how a lightbulb is supposed to communicate "screen" to me. I keep thinking the lightbulb icon in the comment's icon row is for, I don't know, suggesting something related to the user...

I suspect this way lies madness.

[zvi]

Lightbulb on = visible (unscreened)
Lightbulb off = not visible (screened)

[kaigou]

Your reply illustrates my point perfectly: once you learn a system, it's really hard to see how anyone couldn't find it obvious. We reach a state of always-already, unable to go back to a point when we had no idea what that thing was, or what it meant or did. So we get annoyed (or just baffled) when people point out it doesn't make sense to them, because on some level we just can't comprehend anymore not comprehending.

Which is a fancy way to say: I'm aware it can be aggravating to have someone say, this doesn't make intuitive sense, when you've already made the intuitive leap, or at least accepted it -- because it seems obvious. But it doesn't change the fact that for someone not there yet, it's not.

And I'm just someone constantly seeking to undo the always-alreadys I find, is all.

[kyrielle]

I wouldn't replace the bell with an RSS icon. That icon has a very specific, defined meaning - it says I can get an RSS feed. I can't, and it doesn't go in my feed reader, so changing the bell to RSS would be a bad idea, IMO. (Implementing an RSS comments feature might or might not be neat; I prefer notifications to inbox/email, but definitely they are not the same thing.)