Effect of Design Styles on Icons' Implicit Memory and Explicit Memory

WU Zhengxin; BAO Yixi

doi:10.19554/j.cnki.1001-3563.2025.16.032

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Packaging Engineering ›› 2025, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (16) : 379-386. DOI: 10.19554/j.cnki.1001-3563.2025.16.032

Visual Communication Design

Effect of Design Styles on Icons' Implicit Memory and Explicit Memory

WU Zhengxin, BAO Yixi^*

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Abstract

The work aims to conduct cognitive memory research on the two mainstream flat and skeuomorphic design styles in graphical user interfaces and explore their impact on the implicit and explicit memory of icons. Based on the "learning-test" paradigm, the memory and cognitive differences in the memory of two style icons between younger and older users were investigated through icon judgment and icon recognition tasks. In implicit memory, the accuracy and priming amounts of flat icons were significantly lower than those of skeuomorphic icons, while the reaction time of skeuomorphic icons was significantly lower than that of flat icons. In explicit memory, the reaction time of flat icons was significantly lower than that of skeuomorphic icons, and there was no significant difference in the accuracy rate between the two. In conclusion, flat style icons offer an advantage in processing and retrieval efficiency in explicit memory, while skeuomorphic style icons exhibit a higher priming effect in implicit memory, which is more conducive to the unconscious processing and retrieval activities of icons. Moreover, in comparison to explicit memory, the cognitive behavior of icon design style in the implicit memory stage is less susceptible to the user's age and demonstrates a certain degree of age independence. This study provides valuable insights for designing icons in digital interfaces and offers new perspectives on addressing the debate between flat and skeuomorphic design styles from the perspective of behavioral memory.

Key words

icon design styles / flat icon / skeuomorphic icon / implicit memory / explicit memory

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WU Zhengxin, BAO Yixi. Effect of Design Styles on Icons' Implicit Memory and Explicit Memory[J]. Packaging Engineering. 2025, 46(16): 379-386 https://doi.org/10.19554/j.cnki.1001-3563.2025.16.032

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