Images even a thumb can love
by Steffan Berelowitz
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Steffan Berelowitz founded Bit Group, Inc. in 1995, and over its 14-year history has helped to develop a client list of Fortune 500, mid-market and emerging businesses. In addition to his responsibilities at Bit Group, Steffan served as a trustee of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (MA Software Council) from 2001-2006. Steffan served on the board of directors of the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston as the chair of the advisory board of the Center for Information Technology of Hebrew College. Steffan is a member of the Boston College Technology Council. He is also a member of the Technology Network, a national network of senior executives from the nation's leading technology companies. Steffan served as an Internet consultant to former senator and presidential candidate Senator Bill Bradley. A graduate of Boston College, Steffan has spent the past 15 years in online services and technology. In 1993, Steffan was one of the key founders of ArtNet.
See other posts by Steffan Berelowitz
Steffan Berelowitz founded Bit Group, Inc. in 1995, and over its 14-year history has helped to develop a client list of Fortune 500, mid-market and emerging businesses. In addition to his responsibilities at Bit Group, Steffan served as a trustee of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (MA Software Council) from 2001-2006. Steffan served on the board of directors of the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston as the chair of the advisory board of the Center for Information Technology of Hebrew College. Steffan is a member of the Boston College Technology Council. He is also a member of the Technology Network, a national network of senior executives from the nation's leading technology companies. Steffan served as an Internet consultant to former senator and presidential candidate Senator Bill Bradley. A graduate of Boston College, Steffan has spent the past 15 years in online services and technology. In 1993, Steffan was one of the key founders of ArtNet.
See other posts by Steffan Berelowitz
There was a time when icons were just lowly functional images, to be seen, but not touched. Their only human computer interaction comprised the occasional click of a mouse. Well, that’s all over now baby! Icons are all about touch these days, especially when it comes to iPhone applications. Now we need to make clear and memorable icons that also have a target size for a wide range of human thumbs, large and small (and even index fingers, any of you out there?) . It’s important to remember that in the brave new iPhone world where icons are to be seen AND touched, traditional approaches for iconography still apply. Here are some best practices that we recommend:
- Simple — keep the design and colors visually simple
- Memorable — icons should be easy to associate and remember
- Familiar — use iconography your audience will find recognize and associate rapidly
- Consistently styled — a group of icons should have a similar look
- Differentiated — don’t make one icon too similar to another
- High contrast — icons should have strong contrast to make them scannable
- Contiguous — icons should have a single contiguous image (not two images as a compounded icon)
- Consistent lighting — use shadows sparingly so the image is clear, use a consistent lighting source
Oh yes, and don’t forget to make ‘em big enough for my thumb.