Abstract functions lack a stable pictorial referent
Aliases: semantic distance · abstract icons · concreteness
What it is
Share, settings, more, sync — none of these is an object sitting in the world with a shape everyone has already seen. An icon needs a referent. For an abstract action the referent is a relation or a state, not a cup or a bin. With no inherited drawing, the designer borrows a stand-in: a cog for settings, three dots for more, two bent arrows for sync. Between the stand-in and the function sits semantic distance. The larger the gap, the less the picture speaks and the more it poses a riddle.
Why it happens
Concrete objects can be recognised by shape: a bin outline activates "discard". Abstract functions travel by metaphor, and a metaphor only lands if the viewer already shares the cultural script. A cog was once a factory regulator; to someone who has never handled machinery it is a toothed disc. Three dots are worse — nearly an empty sign, filled only by the convention of putting them here. Semantic distance is not a taste issue. It decides whether the user is seeing or solving a puzzle. No amount of drafting turns "permissions", "privacy", or "workspace" into something with a stable outline.
Studying it
Icon studies split concreteness and semantic distance as independent variables. Concreteness is typically rated on a Likert scale by judges who did not draw the set; semantic distance asks how close the picture sits to the function. Guessing accuracy or trials-to-learn then serve as dependents. Concrete, close symbols are usually named on the first try; abstract ones lean on later learning.
For product work the use is diagnostic: decide whether the function even has a drawable referent before committing to a pure glyph. If the function sits at the abstract end, further redraws only swap among metaphors that are all too far away.
Where it stops holding
- Once a metaphor has been trained by a whole ecosystem — cog ≈ settings, magnifying glass ≈ search — convention shortens the distance. That is an acquired pact, not innate concreteness.
- In specialist tools, training and documentation can close the gap; consumer products do not have that training budget.
- This does not explain low scores for an isolated presentation. Even a concrete referent, lifted off the page, can be named as the wrong object.
Applying it
- Classify the function first: is there an object users have actually seen? If not, do not expect the picture to name the action on its own.
- For abstract functions, review drafts by whether a stranger can name the action without being told the function, not by whether the drawing looks polished.
- How to check: have people outside the team rate each candidate for concreteness and closeness to the function, and drop the distant metaphors instead of tightening the strokes.