Icon Border FormĪs an early product of perception, shape contour is the first to be noticed and searched by individuals. Therefore, designing icon border form and interface background color saturation remains an important consideration to improve usability and achieve efficient human-computer interaction processes. Both of them influence visual search performance, including accuracy and efficiency, and play a key role in affecting user visual experience. Border form is an element of icon design, and interface background color saturation is an important attribute of human-computer interaction interface design. The visual characteristics of icons are important factors affecting cognitive processing. Icon search is a constant task to obtain information. In the human-computer interaction process, an icon serves as a point of entry for users to interact with the interface. Therefore, in addition to the physical characteristics of icons, the visual environment in which icons are located also affects individuals’ visual search performance. They are usually not displayed separately but together with other graphic symbols and visual elements to form a complex visual environment in human-computer interaction interfaces. Thus, icons have become a significant part of human-computer interaction interfaces. They have the advantages of overcoming language barriers, effectively reducing the cognitive and memory burden of users, making recall and recognition easier than text, and reducing interface complexity. Icons, often referred to as pictographs, are designed for graphics-based interfaces. It is a significant method for acquiring and processing external information throughout people’s daily behaviors. Visual search refers to the cognitive process of looking for a particular object in a specific background. The findings can help in the design of human-computer interaction interfaces. The combination of rounded square icons and low-saturation background color can be beneficial to improve user search performance and visual experience.

Hence, this study confirmed that the two factors of icon border form and interface background color saturation had the basic properties of the interaction effect. Higher perceptual usability and aesthetic scores were also obtained under this condition compared to the high-saturation background color condition. Compared with high-saturation background color, less time was required to complete search tasks in the low-saturation background color condition. In addition, rounded square icons had the best user visual experience. The statistical results showed that during the human-computer interaction process, compared with the circle and rounded square border forms, the square icons had the longest search completion time and first fixation time and the lowest subjective evaluation score. An experiment using eye-tracking, behavior measurement, and subjective evaluation was carried out to determine the influence of app icon border form and interface background color saturation on user visual experience and search performance.

They were two important factors affecting user visual experience and search performance, but previously they have been studied individually. The purpose of this study was to investigate the icon border form and interface background color saturation’s individual and connected impacts on interface interaction.

Colors and shapes app