Best vs Worst Practices for Interface Icons

Right and wrong ways to use icons

User interface icons are crucial to visual communication. You see them everywhere on websites and applications, but most have poor user experience. In other words, they're not as effective as they can be.

Excellent icons should have a high visual search efficiency and favorable impression. Unfortunately, most designers don't design their icons this way. As a result, users spend more time and effort recognizing icons and are less satisfied afterward.

There are right and wrong ways to use interface icons. Following these best practices will improve visual search efficiency and subjective preference for your icons.

Colored vs. Monochrome Icons

A study discovered that monochrome icons receive far more fixations and longer fixation times than colored icons (source). They also produce longer saccade lengths, further increasing the visual search time.