Why Uniform is better for a user?
On June 24th Google Play will enforce all app icons to switch from Freeform to Uniform type. What is the reason for this change?
Disclaimer: I am not a Google employee and I am/was not associated with the development of Google, Android or Play Store guidelines.
When introducing upcoming change Google gave the following statement on their Dev Platform:
Apps & Games on Google Play are adopting a new icon system to better fit diverse developer artwork to Google Play’s various UI layouts, form factors, and devices, as well as to bring consistency and a cleaner look to Google Play.
Uniformed shapes are visually more appealing and easier to digest. They help users focus on the artwork, as opposed to the shape. They fix alignment issues caused by random open space to better present surrounding information, such as the title, rating, and price.
Pretty straight forward statement about how much better it will look with Unifrom format without mentioning what exactly was wrong with Freeform.
I am a firm believer that everyone should learn from mistakes, so let’s take a look at what UX Laws were violated by the previous form.
Hick’s Law
Sticker like Freeform apps while having a playful and unique look to them caused a cognitive overload by a variety of shapes. In average smartphone user will check their smartphone in a small session of 6 seconds( if not interrupted by some social apps like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and etc). During these 6 seconds, the screen filled with Freeform app icons would delay a user from finding the necessary information they were looking for due to a huge amount of visual stimuli. According to Hick’s Law, the more stimuli to choose from, the longer it takes the user to make a decision on which one to interact with. Users bombarded with choices have to take time to interpret and decide, giving them work they don’t want.
Another scenario would involve looking for that one app you most probably installed not such a long time ago and you don’t remember the look of the app icon.
Law of Prägnanz
According to this law, the human eye likes to find simplicity and order in complex shapes because it prevents us from becoming overwhelmed with information.
People will perceive and interpret complex images as the simplest form possible because it is the interpretation that requires the least cognitive effort of us.
So why overwhelm the user with custom shapes when most of them could be simplified or contained within a square?
Violation of Laws of Proximity ( Gestalt Law principles)
The principles of grouping (or Gestalt laws of grouping) are a set of principles in psychology, first proposed by Gestalt psychologists to account for the observation that humans naturally perceive objects as organized patterns and objects, a principle known as Prägnanz. Gestalt psychologists argued that these principles exist because the mind has an innate disposition to perceive patterns in the stimulus based on certain rules. These principles are organized into five categories: Proximity, Similarity, Continuity, Closure, and Connectedness.
A screen full of Freeform app icons or even a mix of Freeform and Unifrom would seriously challenge the Laws of Proximity laid out by Gestalt followers. The law of proximity describes how the human eye perceives connections between visual elements. Elements that are close to each other are perceived to be related when compared with elements that are separate from each other. When applied right it is allowing people to group ideas, concepts, etc. — it’s ideal for us to be able to recognize different clusters of items at a glance.
For this rule to apply there has to be a defined grid and spacing in between elements to make them look like they belong together, but the overall picture is not overwhelming at the same time. This type of distribution is very challenging if not impossible with Freeform app icons.
Conclusion
Some would argue Android is losing it’s unique look by introducing Unifrom which is very similar to iOS app icons. But in the era of informational and sensory overload, some uniform and familiarity wouldn’t hurt.
It is refreshing to see Google ditching Freeform icon apps in order of Uniform ones which should serve not only as a good UX but encourage a digital well being which was a big focus of a tech giant lately.
