Icon blindness - like face recognition? What's your experience (yes/no)?

[David Esp]

When I visit a new or infrequently used app or website that has unfamiliar icon-buttons, I have trouble "picking up" (i.e. remembering/recalling, in an instinctive/automatic way) which icon is which and what each one does. Could this be related to face blindness, i.e. difficulties in automatically recognising faces (especially unfamiliar ones)? What do you think?

The exception (i.e. when I do remember icons) is when they are naturally intuitive, learned-intuitive (i.e. once I appreciate the intended meaning behind its design), or else if they are broadly familiar from standard conventions (broadly the same kind of icon used - in same way - in many apps/websites).

Please indicate your experience, in this poll, whether or not you have such issues. It would be good to find out whether or not this is "a thing" (i.e. a pattern within AS).

Apart from contributing to our shared journey of exploration, I imagine the overall poll result (percentages in each of the poll answer-options) could be of use to researchers (of psychology and of icon-based user interface design, UX etc.).

Please have a click!

 

[Raggamuffin]

I remember faces but I don't remember names or dates etc. I'm a very visual person, but I often find my mind is elsewhere when people are talking to me. Even when I'm trying to pay attention it can be in one ear and out the other.

If I really push myself, I can remember names. But normally I just structure my sentences to avoid calling people by their name. It can make it tricky sometimes to get people's attention. So I find standing close to them and saying "hello" tends to work best. For a long time I resorted to calling most people "mate" so I don't feel overburdened or anxious for forgetting their name.

Ed

 

[Streetwise]

When I visit a new or infrequently used app or website that has unfamiliar icon-buttons, I have trouble "picking up" (i.e. remembering/recalling, in an instinctive/automatic way) which icon is which and what each one does. Could this be related to face blindness, i.e. difficulties in automatically recognising faces (especially unfamiliar ones)? What do you think?

The exception (i.e. when I do remember icons) is when they are naturally intuitive, learned-intuitive (i.e. once I appreciate the intended meaning behind its design), or else if they are broadly familiar from standard conventions (broadly the same kind of icon used - in same way - in many apps/websites).

Please indicate your experience, in this poll, whether or not you have such issues. It would be good to find out whether or not this is "a thing" (i.e. a pattern within AS).

Apart from contributing to our shared journey of exploration, I imagine the overall poll result (percentages in each of the poll answer-options) could be of use to researchers (of psychology and of icon-based user interface design, UX etc.).

Please have a click!

there wasn't one for me to choose because of my gender and physical age perception is different

 

[Suzette]

My ability to remember a face or name is directly proportional to how interesting they are.

The interesting part might simply be that I noticed they were looking somewhere else instead of where others were looking.

 

[watersprite]

While I’m able to draw & caricature recognizable faces, I’m not good at recognizing people who I haven’t drawn; their countenances aren’t mapped in my brain.

A certain amount of face blindness is especially likely when it’s out of context. I will feel frozen with surprise if someone I’ve met only once or twice speaks to me. (“Who the heck is this?!”)

When viewing new icons, I have trouble knowing exactly what they indicate until someone writes their meaning or tells me with spoken word. Some icons are obvious, some are ‘out in left field’ for me.

 

[Aneka]

The strange thing is I sometimes don't even recognize familiar faces if I encounter them in an unexpected setting. I'm also done when someone stops wearing glasses or has gotten a radically different haircut. I'm good at remembering pictures, icons, movies and places I've been to. Show me 2 seconds of a movie I've seen 10 years ago and I will know it.

 

[watersprite]

Show me 2 seconds of a movie I've seen 10 years ago and I will know it.

Little snatches of movie dialogue will pop into my head from plays it has watched & stored asay, audiobooks or movies, when they are applicable to a situation that is happening in real life.

 

[David Esp]

there wasn't one for me to choose because of my gender and physical age perception is different

Fair enough. Sounds like this exploration needed to consist of (at least) three separate polls - to account for each of those dimensions (ways of cutting the experience/data), and possibly others also.

What about just the icons?

 

[Nervous Rex]

For me, you can take the word "unfamiliar" out of it. I have difficulty recognizing faces and icons, whether they're familiar or not.

When I go out to a large public space, I recite to myself the color of my family members' shirts so I'll be able to find them if I need. I have mistaken other people in the crowd for family members way too many times.

Even on my phone, I will have difficulty remembering what the icon looks like for the app I want, and accidentally click on one with the same main color.