The use of symbols enables further de-cluttering of the page, and in these flat design days where minimalism is God, less is always more, and content is king, we will see a much greater use of common symbols in all our interfaces. It’s easy to see where things are headed. Presumably this can be handled through alt tags, ID attributes and so forth, so it’s not a biggy. Text-to-speech readers for the visually impaired need to understand what each symbol stands for. There are also accessibility considerations we need to ensure navigation is clearly labelled even if it’s not visibly so. We have also tested and proven – on our own Wiliam website – that it’s not always the best option to have symbols sans labels. A number of times it has been requested that they be put back in, to aid unfamiliar users. ![]() We’ve had some reluctance from clients to do away completely with menu titles, which is understandable. This handed more screen space over to viewing the order and payment reports. On this occasion, where users are effectively parrots repeating the same tasks day in / day out, using symbols to reduce the size of the navigation made total sense. This internal facing application isn’t visible to the general public, and is used solely by staff. I recently project managed the streamlining and responsive overhaul of a major client’s order processing interface. There are some occasions where this makes perfect sense. The top screen grab shows navigation with text, and the bottom shows the same navigation with a collapsed view / symbols only. ![]() You can see an example below, which is the navigation from the Google Ventures website (not a Wiliam site). No text or labelling was required, and it still made total sense. I noticed a new trend for the first time the other day, when I saw that our designers were starting to come up with navigation menus that were reduced purely to a collection of symbols. They’re extremely handy for infographics as well (as they are all the rage currently). Naturally this has fallen right into the hands of web designers, who are lapping it up in their eternal quest for more intuitive and efficient design. It’s about simplifying communication using common iconography – symbols that have meaning and understanding across borders and multi-culturally. Scott and his colleagues have a keen understanding of symbolism and the aim of the project is not just to build up a remarkable collection of icons – 25,000 at last count – but also to foster the creation and growth of what they call the world’s ‘visual language’. The Noun Project is more than just another stock library or depository for icons. Long gone are the days of having to create your own icons, but also gone are the frustrations associated with Google image search – all those wonderful results popping up in the search yet it’s impossible to find a high-res or vector equivalent, let alone one that is royalty free. Apparently, what our designer friends haven’t been telling us, is that for a number of years now, their iconography has been handed to them on a silver platter! Well, not quite, but things have been looking up since the launch of this graphic arts library back in 2010. You may not have heard of the noun project, though you see the results of it everywhere you look. If you’re not a designer, then chances are you haven’t been let in on this little secret ![]() But most importantly (I think) Scott is one of the founders of The Noun Project. One of my favourites was Scott Thomas, famous on a number of fronts including being the creative director for the Obama Presidential Campaign in 2008. I attended Web Directions South last week and was delighted to listen to a number of fantastic speakers. And there are also those among us who like to set them. There are plenty of designers out there who can follow trends. What will we be doing as soon as we’ve finished upgrading all our websites to be responsive, flattened all our designs and finished info-graphing ourselves silly? On the other hand, are we working towards ensuring more standards are applied across our designs? With so many devices and appliances out there with screens these days, and a whole generation now grown up with the internet – is our understanding of interface design reaching new heights? One can only guess at what tomorrow’s trends will be. We’ve all stumbled across an old website, from barely three or four years past… gasping in horror at the screen, “what were we thinking?” Today’s most wonderfully hip, pixel perfect design will be out on the trash heap before you know it. Just when you think you’ve nailed the perfect design, some bright spark comes up with a new idea or a new technology and suddenly your world is flipped on its head. Web Design Online Trends Website Accessibility User Experience Featured Matthew Bruce Team : Web Production Tags :
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