As a counterpoint, here are Zendesk's icons with no text: http://imgur.com/a/wzCO0 -- can you guess what those do?

Of course, this is about the worst example of iconography I've ever seen so here's the same with the labels left in: http://imgur.com/a/CyqA6 and I'd even go so far as to suggest that given their choice of icons they should just get rid of them and make it text-only.

But those are product logo, not icons https://imgur.com/a/4kAKt. They don't serve the same purpose - logos are brand assets and are suppose to be distinct, otherwise they can't be trademarked.

I "understand" the icons... support is one box leaning on another, guide is one leading another, chat looks like 2 speaking at each other, and talk looks like a phone.

But wow are they horrible. I agree, they really should go with text-only.

Zune is a good counterexample to this. It's a lovely UI, just a little too late to the game.

http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/images/features/zune_01.jpg

This is a fantastic refutation of the idea that text is best. You have to read the whole thing to figure out where to tap. Nicely done!

I disagree. I mean, yes, the icons look much, much nicer, but the text I can understand much easier.

For example, desprite owning an iPhone myself, after looking at that comparison, I just realised that I had actually never used (nor really knew what they meant) what the "do not disturb", "timer" or "calculator" icons were. I've always navigated to calculator and timer from the apps on the home screen (and have never used do not disturb).

I'm not saying that Apple should change the icons, not at all. Just that I don't think this is a refutation of the idea that text is best at all. If anything, it shows that text is much more descoverable and understandable, if a good bit uglier (and less compact).

I do think that icons are the right choice for the iPhone, and once you learn the icons there's no problem (as long as they don't get changed!), but its not as clear cut as you seem to be saying. I'm forever confused by non-standard various unlabelled icons all over the place. I also have no idea what most of the articles in the linked article mean (eg the washing machine/clothes icons -- I still don't know what they mean when I see them on clothes!)

I think Apple Mail actually strikes the right balance here. There are icons, but they have text below them by default. If you want a cleaner interface once you are able to easily identify the feature by the icons, you can right-click and turn off the text. It's like training wheels for the UI. I used the text labels until I no longer needed them, and now I only use the icons.

it also shows that an icon has to be iconic to work. play, fast forward and rewind, the camera and the calculator, i knew. airplane mode, wifi and bluetooth, i knew but could easily imagine people confused by. the crescent moon, the lock with the arrow around it, the flashlight and the dial i honestly didn't know, and would've had to tap them to try to figure out what they did.

you can't just make any picture iconic, it's not something an app can force.

Just fyi my Android phone has icons with text underneath them for the equivalent menu (like a parc style OS also)

http://oi65.tinypic.com/339jeh3.jpg

Seems like a good solution.

Also interesting they recently updated all the icons / art for Android. I really dont like the new ones compared to the old ones. Its a jarring change. They are all line drawings now, rather than filled shapes.

Also, awesome little job u did there !

On the other hand, I find myself suffering from "icon blindness" sometimes - it is usually after working for some time, but at some point, I just don't process them very well. Command-tab window switching (MacOS), for instance, is something I end up staring at a lot, trying to figure out which one I want.

But then I tend to interpret text much more quickly and without having to think about it than with icons, as well. I'm just a word person. Probably why I'm generally happier typing at the command line than poking and clicking at buttons.

I'd take the text-only iPhone, myself. Stark is fine.

I like the text only version a lot. The top icons could still be graphics as they are more gauges than icons. The cognitive load of a million different icons, mostly different per application is too much in my opinion. I would include this under design cleverness vs usability.

Symbolics Genera used an all text approach. Experimentally testing of text vs icons would be very interesting.

Wow, great comparison. It's seems as if icons make a lot of sense in places that are used constantly (like the iOS screen)