Update: The proposed design described below has been released as Cue.
One of the clearly understood problems associated with touch interfaces is people are often left guessing as to what gesture(s) can be performed throughout an app. There are common interaction guidelines to follow, but that can only take us so far. One of the obvious ways to help solve this issue is to articulate the interactions allowed through gestural icons.
These gesture icons act as roadsigns to an app for interaction way-finding. As expected, there has been a significant collection of gesture icon sets that have been made available to fill this need. The current crop of icons succeed in clarity, but they lack the iconic qualities necessary to act as a standard representation of gestures. My goal is to help create a foundational set of icons that are flexible, clear and distilled to a point where they could become a standard visual system to build from – ultimately to be used within apps for when explicit communication is needed.
The Proposed System
Since all touch gestures start with the application of finger(s) to screen, the system makes that action it’s foundation. Instead of representing the entire hand for a gesture, the icons focus on the point of action. The tap icon is an encapsulation of the fingertip.
The principles that drove the icon design were the following:
- Create a core visual language that all gestures could build from.
- Gestures will come, go and change over time. The system should be able to support that.
- Distill each gesture to its core action.
- The illustrative nature of most gesture icons reduce focus from the fundmental interaction being performed.
- Represent each gesture in a non-literal, yet clear way.
- Not everyone is right handed, nor do they perform gestures uniformly which makes literal expression less than optimal.
- Design forms that would be legible at small sizes.
- Mobile devices are already space-constrained. My goal was to create icons that could take up little space in a mobile interface if needed.
The whole system builds from the tap and press icons above. Below lays out the standard gesture interactions found on most modern mobile devices.
Icon Comparisons
Gesture icons, while visually clear, represent gestures very literally. This can be problematic because it insinuates that it is how the gesture should be performed. The icons also quickly lose legibility at small sizes. Luke Wroblewski took a different route with his icons, showing the the start/finish states of a gesture, which is quite helpful, but makes the icon more elaborate. Below are comparisons between the different gesture icon sets (my concept, Gesture Icons, LukeW’s icons and GestureWorks respectively).
Tap
There are a few things to notice between the icons. In the tap gesture, look at the percentage of space in each icon that is dedicated to the actual tap. By displaying the entire hand, the fingertip responsible for the tap takes a small portion of the actual icon – which is a very inefficient use of space. Showing the hand for a gesture certainly provides useful context, but the hand dominates each icon, diminishing the point of focus.
Swipe Right
The inclusion of the entire hand is all the more problematic the more complex the gesture becomes. Even with the simple swipe gesture, icons become very difficult to confidently read at small sizes.
Spread
The illustrative style also becomes problematic with gestures that can be performed in many different ways. For instance, the spread can be done with one hand or with two hands. It can be done with the thumb and index finger, thumb and middle finger, index and middle fingers, etc. It can be done with the right or left hand. Two of the icons assume the gesture is be performed with thumb and index from the right hand. Another uses two hands. My opinion is that gestures need to be abstracted beyond any specific form of execution to be successful.
Next Steps
Nearing the completion of this icon system, I ran across the work of Ron George who had come to the same conclusion as I had in the belief that standardization would require abstraction. This gives me confidence that there is something to this idea. I do not think the icons are perfect, but I truly think there is something to this idea. I am planning on releasing it as a finished set when it is at a more refined state. I am hoping to get feedback from readers to get a sense if the sentiment is shared and how it can be improved for greater clarity and aesthetics. Once I feel confident that the system is at an appropriate level of completion, I will release it for free under the Creative Commons share-a-like license.
56 Comments
Looks great. The only issue I see is that Spread and Pinch icons can be mistaken for “Swipe left then right” or “Swipe left and right”. Maybe the circles could be touching, or overlapping, or connected with a bar.
That’s a really good point hubs. I’ll put some thought into how to solve that communicational issue.
Finding a more universal system to touch gesturing that is size friendly is a fairly ambitious undertaking. I believe the reason it looks more like a thumb it the length of the nail itself – I see my father’s hand in this (a working man’s finer has short cropped wider nails) whereas most people see their nails as longer. That being said, I believe this is where interpretative design allowances can be made by companies wishing to have a uniform icon set that they can also customize (such as the finger being a color and the action being another, or the shape of the arrows, fingers, etc).
I find it easier to quickly read the Drag icons than the Swipe icons due to the full encapsulation of the finger icon. This makes the weighting of the icon towards the action of the icon heavier, whereas the open arc for tap with an arrow to indicate direction has a battle between the visual weight of the arc and the arrow to indicate direction (in all but the up direction). Perhaps a broken full circle to indicate tap could work with this (dashed lines). The problem I see with that is at which point does it become illegible in a small scale (radiating lines much like sun rays could help alleviate this). However that could cause issue with double and triple tapping. Another option would be to move the arc around the finger icon icon to align with the same side as the gesture arrow. This would add weight in the direction of the movement, however, this would make multi-directional icons a pain.
Speaking of visual weight of the icon for quick reading, another way to help provide this is to offset the circle to be more drop shaped. Give a heavier weight to the line on the side of the movement and less on the side away from the movement could help replicate abstractly the movement of the finger in ways that the other three did much more representationally. Again this would cause issues with the multi-directional icons.
Lastly I agree that encapsulating the two finger taps together in a single arc will help show the fingers staying together. It would also allow you to decrease the size of most of your Primary Two Finger Gesture icons.
These are very good. I’m not quite convinced by the Pinch and Spread icons, though I can’t offer an alternative. Using the thumb seems integral to these gestures; but that’s not communicated.
@J.M. – Thanks, that’s some great feedback. I’m still trying to improve these icons; hopefully I will have some progress to show in the weeks to come.
@Chris – The interesting thing about pinching and spreading is that I know people who don’t use their thumb at all to perform these gestures. That’s the thinking behind abstracting past specific gestural executions. That said, I’m still trying to tweak these gestures to better articulate the action.
These are excellent! The complex drawings (full hand etc.) are too complex, and unusable on the device, whilst the super-abstract suggestions of Matt Gemmell seem just too abstract for the average user.
You seem to have hit precisely on a notation that abstracts away the hand, whilst still making it clear that one, two, three or more fingers are required, and clearly providing the applicable gestures, in a sufficiently compact form to be used right where it is needed, in the UI.
Perhaps you might simplify even further. If you render just the finger, that adequately signifies touching the screen. Short radial spokes (think original Mac OS close-box) could signify a tap, and eliminating the half-halo might increase the ink-value of the arrow.
Of course, shown in context in an app, it might be useful to display and animate gestures. One could argue that perhaps there should be a standard help gesture akin to the old Graffiti gesture on the Palm OS.
“Once I feel confident that the system is at an appropriate level of completion, I will release it for free under the Creative Commons share-a-like license.”
Great news! :) And great suggestions. Makes sense… Would like to see what people read from it when used in a real UI. Some testing is in order, I guess.
Cheers!
I completely agree. I look forward to seeing Cue in action.
Would be nice to have a fast swipe (flick), maybe a double arrow?
@Greg: Yes. I think that’s the right way to go.
Hi there and happy NY!
Can I use these gesture icons in an app?
It’s a mappin app that will launch in February.
Also it would be great if you would like a copy of our app in the beta phase to I’ve us feedback on functionality and features.
All best
George
Yes, you most certainly can. Best of luck with your app!
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