The Trouble With Icons, Illustrated by an Example Found in Most Cars

As a designer and creative director for the last 15 years or so, one conversation I've had more than any other is about icons. People love to add icons into a design to save space or add a visual element, but I've always felt that users do not know what most icons mean.

Now I think I've found a good example of this problem with icons. Below is a photo of my Ford Focus' gas guage.

I've been staring at a gas gauge like that for my entire life. But recently in a rental car, the gauge was slightly different. It looked something like this:

This was the first time I've ever noticed that the gas gauge on most cars points out which side the car's gas tank is on. Now, the icon makes perfect sense. It's an icon of a gas pump. I always thought that it was there to indicate that this was the gas gauge, but it was there, with the tiny arrow, to point out the gas tank.

I see the same problem on car locks, where icons of locks are always more confusing than the words lock and unlock.

When in doubt use words with the icon, and if you don't have room, keep the words and ditch the icon.