Icon design exploration - epic and issue
Purpose
In ux-research#322 (closed) and ux-research#323 (closed) multiple design concepts for epic and issue icons were tested. Also see &1733. The end results didn’t create a high enough confidence level for any of the concepts. While states (open/closed) on top of these concepts was understood, they did not help clarify the underlying concept.
In ux-research#144 (comment 156241991) research was done to determine what best indicated the states, and a checkmark performed the best.
Current icons
Epic | Issue |
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Here is an example of where the icons are used in the product.
Epic and issue tree |
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Exploration
Epics and issues are relatively abstract concepts, and not standardized among competitors. Visually, they are also disparate — icons look like anything from lists and alerts, to lightning bolts and shields. In this new exploration below, the approach is more aligned with updating the existing epic and issue icons to leverage the latest iconography docs, and to further consider indicating open and closed states.
In other research a checkmark was associated with completion, and thus has been used in the closed states. Color is not part of the current exploration.
Competitive and previous exploration
Competitors | Previous exploration direction 1 | Previous exploration direction 2 | Previous exploration direction 3 | Previous exploration direction 4 |
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New concepts
High-level goals:
- Directionally feel 2–3 steps max from current icons — inferring an update/refresh more than refactor/shift
- Epic/issue icons should have shared attributes within each direction, making them feel like cousins at least
- Icons should feel like they represent first-class citizens in the product
Direction 2 in context |
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Feedback
What type of feedback am I looking for?
- Do you have a preference? Why?
- If you saw one of these sets in the product today, would you be able to connect it back to current state? i.e., would it feel like an update, or like something was moved?
- What do you think of the solid states of direction 2? This isn’t something we do much of (if any) today, but in other products that primarily use stroked icons it is common to use a filled version for states.