Upload and Share tend to be the same thing for most users. You want this on that. I don't think it's coincidence that the share icon looks like an upload icon in iOS7.
Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
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Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#12I like the Y-shaped old Android logo, but for some reason I feel that it looks upside-down. Could be one dot on top, with 2-3 arrows pointing downwards.
Fascinating article!
Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#13Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#14It would be interesting to ask people if they recognise what the "Milkshake-icon" represents.. I don't think "A drink with two straws" would've been my first guess.
Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#15I think the Android icons are fine. The old one is a bit easier to understand due to the explicit arrow direction, but the new one is implicitly directed correctly for people who are trained to read left to right. It's abstract and consequently vague, but I don't think that's a big problem: I expect there to be a share functionality, and in that context the icon is easy enough to understand.
The new Apple icon is less abstract, but it does seem to scream upload/send to server, which is also a function I might expect in similar situations as a share function; I think the old one is better because it points to the side signifying communication towards a peer.
The Windows 8 one is fine, easily understandable in context for the same reasons as the new Android one, but it lacks any semblance of directionality. It's a bit hilarious that it's almost identical to the Ubuntu icon.
The other two are terrible and I probably wouldn't expect them to signify sharing even in a context where I'd expect the functionality.
Edit: Of course I am an Android user so this may just be (confirmation?) bias at work. :)
Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#16I always thought a megaphone pointed at a rendition of the world would be a great sharing icon. But its too complex to render easily.
Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#17http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_icon
The Android share icon has been around since (at least?) 2006 and was used a lot on websites, particularly Wordpress-based sites.
It was initially open source but then sold Share This and trademarked. Most services use the icon shape without ST's green button background.
Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#18I vote for a megaphone of some type
I think the modern icons are striving for a more abstract and minimalistic look. This seems to be the case for all 3 mobile OS covered. This is mostly about fashion, I guess, but an abstract icon does look less out of place in more situation. I can well imagine being slightly miffed about having to put a megaphone in my app to fit platform conventions, although I would gladly take it over that god-awful present icon WPOS7 apparently had.
Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#19As a reluctant social media user, I think a can of SPAM would be perfect.
Re: Share: The Icon No One Agrees On
#20The problem that comes before this one is whether share is a well-understood action.
If I "share" via e-mail, then I transmit a document to others. After this, each recipient has a separate copy which, thereafter, is completely out of my control.
If I "share" via social network, then I upload a document. This makes a single copy, accessible to previously chosen people. It is (depending on the social network) somewhat under my control. Others can comment on it.
If I "share" via something like Dropbox, then I make the document accessible to others. No copy is made. If I share via URL, then I give read access. If I make a shared folder, then I give both read and write access.
Now, we techies know these are different things. Our mental model of non-technical users' thinking might suggest that, to them, these are all the same kind of action.
But are they?
Does an average non-technical user think of folder sharing, Facebook posts, and e-mail messages as the same category of action? I'm not sure he does.