User experience and usability

In reaction to this brainstorm idea about the icon for Evolution in Ubuntu, I wrote the following:

As long as Evolution is the default mail application in Ubuntu, the current (envelope) icon works better. The icon serves two different purposes:

1. Tell a user what the program does that is run if he clicks on it (in this respect the original evolution icon clearly wins).

2. Help a user find his way to an application that is suited for the task the user wants to do. In this respect any default mail application should be clearly labeled as such, without clutter from other, secondary features.

In this case I think it’s more important that a user can find ‘the’ email application quickly so I wouldn’t change the icon. It would be a whole different case if Evolution wasn’t the default mail software.

In general it’s always a trade-off. An icon serves as a road sign, and should help the user to find the function or program he needs. To achieve this, an icon should be clear, unambiguous, yet give complete information (or at least complete enough). This can be complicated, as icons never work in isolation (and should always be compared to both similar icons and icons for similar functions).