Studies have shown that the human eye can identify and distinguish graphical information more easily and effectively than textual information, and that visual appeal is an important motivating factor in the workplace. The Workplace Environment makes extensive use of icons to represent objects related to user's work tasks. Icons provide a very effective means of identifying a required object, particularly where many possibilities are displayed to the user. Still it is advisable not to put too many icons into any workplace. Depending on the user, more than 10 to 20 icons in a given area may be confusing. A graphical environment encourages an orderly arrangement.
The icon is a two-dimensional depiction of the object. It should resemble the physical object it represents but it should also resemble what the user recognizes as an object of that type. For example, if the user expects a printer to look like the one in Figure "Workplace Shell Desktop Appearance", then an accurate portrayal of an IBM 4029 Page Printer is not going to be easy for that user to recognize and find; the user will have to read the title below the icons to locate a printer.
A detailed discussion of these issues can be found in the Icon Reference Book, SC34-4348.
The icon editor is part of OS/2. The user can change the icon of any object from its Settings view. The "General" page shows the current icon and offers the option to edit that icon. When "Edit" is selected, the Icon Editor is invoked.