The Effectiveness of Icons

I was surfing the web today, and stumbled on an article about various application icons and how effective they are in conveying the usage of the application. The comparisons mostly deal with Mac vs. Windows icons.

But he also brings Firefox and Thunderbird into the picture.

In the end it looks like the UI design team at Apple has given more attention to icons and their effectiveness. It’s no secret that the various design teams at Apple are very good at what they do, from the packaging of the devices to their OS, to the hardware design, but it’s interesting to hear it from a different point of view.

The Importance of Icon Metaphors [Louie Mantia]