{"id":4783,"date":"2017-05-18T08:21:56","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T07:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uxstudioteam.com\/website\/?p=4783"},"modified":"2022-05-19T14:34:48","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T13:34:48","slug":"text-free-interfaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timemachine.uxstudioteam.com\/ux-blog\/text-free-interfaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Text-free interfaces – Can you understand them? Take the quiz!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text-free<\/p>\n

Approximately\u00a060%\u00a0of the world\u2019s population can\u2019t read this article. Why? Mainly, because they are too young to read or they don\u2019t understand the language, or maybe they can\u2019t read at all. How would you succeed in a world where you can\u2019t understand anything of the written language? How would you interact with interfaces, for instance? You can try it out with these text-free interfaces!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"text-free<\/p>\n

Last month, I traveled to China for the first time in my life. When I arrived in Beijing full of excitement and joy, I encountered this ticket machine in the subway. First, I was just amused by the view: \u201cWow, they are color coding lines, nice!\u201d The screen was also very chaotic and funny for me because of the Chinese labels. I couldn\u2019t understand anything from them. Before instantly tapping the \u201cEnglish\u201d button, I took a photo of the screen. A few hours later, when I scrolled through my images in the hostel, I realized that it had been a long time since I wasn\u2019t able to actually read an interface.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sitting in our own little \u201clanguage bubble\u201d<\/b><\/h3>\n

For most of us, understanding our usual, everyday environment is not a challenge. We feel very comfortable because we can easily decode our culture\u2019s signs and methods of communication. Reading plays a big role in this. This is an ability which most of us take for granted. In China, I experienced how I can live without the help of reading. And it was tough sometimes. Being unable to fully understand your surroundings is frustrating; however, a lot of people are used to feeling this. For instance, <\/span>17% of the world\u2019s adult population<\/span><\/a> can\u2019t read at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"text-free<\/p>\n

How do our brains analyze text-free interfaces?<\/b><\/h3>\n

During my trip, I encountered more and more Chinese interfaces where I had to play a guessing game. I tried to figure out what to write in certain input fields or what a button might do if I click on it. Sometimes this was a bit frustrating, but I also found it very interesting and challenging (after all, I\u2019m a UI designer). I was eagerly looking for <\/span>visual clues<\/span><\/a> which could help me to identify the purpose and the functions of the interface. Numbers and icons were my biggest rescuers; color, visual hierarchies and usual interface patterns helped me a lot as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Test yourself with these text-free interfaces!<\/b><\/h3>\n

After coming home, I could not stop. I had to continue the \u201cgame\u201d and keep thinking about how we interpret and analyze text-free interfaces. I assembled a little game for you to try out by yourselves. Through this game, we can learn to discover some useful visual clues, patterns and we can also try out how a five-year-old child might feel when opening their mother\u2019s iPhone. (Well okay, we won\u2019t have the exact same experience, but at least we will have a slight hint).<\/span><\/p>\n