What are some characteristics of byzantine icons?

How does the usability and cognitive load of hollow icons compare to filled icons?

• This question is inspired by 's post, "https://medium.com/design-ux/a93647e5a44b" and 's counter-post, "http://www.thefoxisblack.com/2013/08/21/hollow-icons-hollow-argument/" Aubrey suggests that iOS 7's hollow icons take longer to parse and recognize than filled icons (like those used in iOS 6). Bobby points out that there is little to no data or research behind Aubrey's suggestion. I'm particularly interested in data and/or research that shows whether or not hollow icons are harder to parse and recognize.

• Answer:

  Chalk this one up to "finding reasons to bash iOS7 because it's hip and cool to". is right to be skeptical and his points about the human ability to memorise a large number of shapes (be they icons or Chinese logograms) ring true. Still, that's not to say there is zero merit to Aubrey Johnson's argument, just that the evidence following from his initial premise is so inadequate as to be misguided. Let's back up a bit: the initial premise is the difference between hollow and filled icons. Now, instead of jumping straight to cool-sounding buzzwords such as cognitive load, let's retrace our steps and look at how the images are processed in the eye: e.g. http://danielmaidman.blogspot.com.au/2010/01/edges-and-edge-detection-part-1.html. And before long we're talking about the biology of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retina and crazy things like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_of_Gaussians. Note that we still have not arrived at an answer yet. We still need to determine whether the hollow shape or the filled one allows us to better identify the edges, and hence the shape of the icon or object. As you continue to read through Daniel Maidman's series of articles though: http://danielmaidman.blogspot.com/2010/02/edges-and-edge-detection-part-1-word.html http://danielmaidman.blogspot.com/2010/03/edges-and-edge-detection-part-3-funny.html http://danielmaidman.blogspot.com/2012/02/edges-and-edge-detection-part-4-genius.html I wouldn't blame you for arriving at the conclusion that the whole debate is more about art rather than science, which is really how I feel about the whole thing.