Basically because once you learn the function once, the word description is no longer needed, you only really need something to remind you of the function. For this, imagery is generally faster to interpret and looks a bit nicer. The back face can be more descriptive
Unforntunately we don’t have the luxury of using colours. The markings are laser engraved through the black powdercoat to reveal alluminium. Basically it’s black and white.
You’re right. I guess our aim is to make something which can do a pretty good job of explaining the function at first glance but then is easy to remember once you read the manual or watch a video explaination.
That’s the idea for using iconography over text
On this we agree. This icon is the most likely candidate to change
I think you misinterpreted the meaning of this icon. It is to indicate “pagination”. The 3 dots indicate 3 pages, the first of which is selected. There will be up to 8 pages available but it’s a bit excessive to have 8 dots on the icon. This icon is pretty common for indicating pages in mordern devices. Smart phone menus for example. I think it would be a bit strange to have an icon which shows where the button is on the device. Icon inception
We actually had a big discussion today before checking in here and have come to a pretty similar conclusion. Basically naming all 3 buttons means there won’t be some weird order like 3,1,2 if the pagination button is used as an assignable switch. It also allows room for changes in functionality down the road
Hi James, if even I don’t really understand the 3-dot icon, even though I deal with these things every day, you can assume that many others won’t understand it either. The three dots are simply too identical with the three buttons, so that the subconscious will make such a connection with many people here.
The first step is to see what you call the buttons in the settings menus. This is exactly what you should write on the buttons. If you want to use more icons you should first make a list with all possible functions that are possible due to any standard settings. You don’t have to use icons for free configuration, because the user has to intervene to adapt the function to his own wishes. So the user should not need a corresponding hint anymore.
A completely different solution would be to print a box as a white outline under the button and then give empty stickers with the same size. Then the user can make the label himself and has a clearly defined space where he should stick it. It probably looks better than the household adhesive tape that is usually so easily torn off.
Luckily we don’t have to assume since we have data from the survey I can tell you that the majority of responses were correct, saying that the icon is for pages or at least that it cycles through 3 or more of something (pages, banks, presets etc)
In saying that there’s always room to improve
This is true. We have some other alternatives to try to differentiate it better
This could work for products in the DIY market but I don’t think it would be an appropriate design decision for this product. Also the idea that somebody has to essentially finish the product when it arrives kind of suggests that we failed to finish it ourselves
I’d be interested to hear if you had another idea for a “pages” icon which could be more easily recognised
Unfortunately I haven’t seen the survey. In order to be able to judge whether the consent of the participants is resilient, I would have to know what the question was. This should only be of real value if you asked freely what the three circles symbolize without giving any solution. Otherwise, the participants take the solution that is most likely for them. Even if they had never come up with the solution without this help. Unfortunately, UX-testing is a very complex affair .
Unfortunately I do not have the permission to insert an image here directly. If there is a way to PN it to you I can send you a quick try. But finding the perfect icon is not an easy task. You can ponder about it for quite some time ;-).
By the way, if you really want to continue with the X in the circle, there is another possibility to rotate it by 45 degrees. Then you will have a plus sign, which is much more like “I can add or change something here myself”. But the clean variant with only the triangles is somewhat nice in my eyes .
The questons in the survey were basically as open as possible, like “What do you think this symbol could mean?”
No multiple choice or anything like that.
So I would think the answers to the survey are actually quite usable.
Regarding the three dots icon, I got it “right” in the survey but also mentioned that it’s not completely obvious in my view.
As Casanunda said, we made them as open ended as possible, gave no prior information about the devices functions and all entries were made before any discussion started in this thread. The questions were all the same, an image of the device with a red circle around each icon followed by…
“Take a look at the area circled in red. How would you describe the information you take from these markings? which part of the device do they refer to? what do they tell you?”
If you find an example online you can share a link in here or PM me. I will ask the team about image sharing permissions
We did try this too, you can see in a image I posted further up in the thread
At least amongst the team we found this to be just as ambiguous as the X
We also tried some other icons which are more “page” looking. Somebody posted some links earlier but I think they deleted the comment. Here are some that I made during internal testing
The paper or book style icons can be misinterpreted as the “copy” or “paste” icon or some other function
The button only cycles through pages in one mode of the device. A better, broader description of it’s function is that it scrolls/switches/cycles through pages or other things depending which mode or menu you are in so the more universal symbols like the 3 circles seemed more appropriate.
I think the issue highlighted by yourself and some survey responses, is that the circles, especially being 3, can be confused with the buttons or knobs in some cases. So moving forward we might try some variants with other shapes or numbers of shapes. Eg squares or 4 circles
It was like this with a few others too. Most likely you would confirm your first thought when you start using the device but it’s good to know that we can improve it so there will be less confusion
Regarding the “assignable control”, I’d consider using an asterisk (*) with a stroke width consistent with the other icons. Maybe it’s my programmer’s POV but I understand * as a sort of wildcard function.
We finally went through all the feedback from the survey
There were 105 repsonses to 17 questions so roughly 1,785 answers to read
I want to thank you all again for your involvement, it’s great to have such an engaged community
We took all of your responses into consideration and also had many of our own internal discussions and even made some slight changes to the functionality. Overall we feel this exercise was a sucess so I aim to involve you guys more in the future
Hey Dan, I think you’re refering to the nut. It’s like that in the model just so we can make sure the nuts won’t cover the markings in any position. The actual devices will have nuts at random angles since they are just rotated until they are tight. I hope that answers your question
Would quite like to have seen a white circle around the headphone hole on the back, because it would be quite easy to miss the hole. Nice to see some improvements to the graphics. Personally I still imagine this on the floor of a dark venue and think most of this would be quite difficult to see and everything should have just been larger.
We have a circle around the Control Chain port to draw attention to it so that people would not confuse it for ethernet. I agree it would make the headphone jack stand out more but if we were to circle any other ports it would take attention away from the control chain port. Plus it would be pretty uncommon for someone to need to plug headphones into their pedal mid show
I think you will be pleased when you see it in person. It’s quite readable and the lights on the device will definitely illuminate it enough in a dark venue
During a performance I think you will concentrate on the three buttons anyway. The labeling is more interesting at home or in the rehearsal room, when you get to know the Dwarf or build sounds with it. Seen in this light I don’t see a probplem in the size.
.
