The study concerning the Concreteness and Abstractness of Icon Design Focused on the Mobile Application Icon

Icon, an element of GUI, became essential means of effective visual communication and its importance is gradually increasing with the wide spread and advancement of smart phone. Trend of such icon is changing from Skeuomorphism presenting concreteness to minimalism presenting abstractness and simplicity. However, its performance as effective visual communication has not been verified yet and there is a lack of study on this subject. Therefore, the purpose of this study lies in verifying the concreteness and abstractness of icon design. The research on visual component of icon was conducted through literature review, analysis on Skeuomorphism and minimalism was conducted to recognize current design trend, and consideration on concreteness and abstractness of icon was carried out. Afterwards, icon design was classified into each form of expressions that are ‘realistic-concrete-iconic-abstract’ expression and then user survey was conducted. The significance of this study lies in the fact that literatures review on the design of icon, a current hot issue, and verification on its influence with division of 5 aspects including information recognition, preference, curiosity, purchase intention, and memorability for each form of expression have been conducted.