Why does nobody talk about the 80/20 rule for icon sets

I read this post on a UX forum last night that said 80% of users only recognize 20% of icons in a typical toolbar, and it made me totally ditch my plan to design 50 custom icons for a client project. Has anyone else found a similar stat that changed how they approach their design tool workflows?

2 comments

2 Comments

alice_barnes357d ago

That "80% of users only recognize 20% of icons" hits hard - my friend spent a whole week making custom icons for her app toolbar and then found out users kept clicking the wrong ones because nobody knew what they meant.

dixon.anthony6d ago

You ever notice how this same 80/20 rule shows up in the weirdest places? Like, I was cleaning out my kitchen drawers last week and realized I only use about 20% of my utensils on a regular basis. The rest is just clutter taking up space. It's the same with icons - we keep adding stuff to toolbars and menus thinking more choices help, but really people just want the basics they already know. I bet if you looked at your phone's home screen right now, you'd see the same pattern. That's why I stopped trying to be clever with icon designs and started sticking to the simple, common ones that everyone already gets.