to ask if this iconography makes sense...

[IAmALentilWeaver]

I have NCed for this, but need to know if IABU.

Imagine you work in a school and you have a central database that holds info about PUPILS, TEACHERS, EXAMS and REPORTS (amongst other things) - and these are the unlabelled icons you are presented with.

What would intuitively think each of these icons would relate to/it's function? (given the four options above)
Also - do you think any of these are related to each other?

a cog shape like A usually means settings IMHO

I would say A is reports B is teachers C is pupils and E is exams. No clue on D.

None of those icons work for those categories, they're pretty ambiguous.
settings
girls
boys
refresh?
lists.

I would say that A is settings, B is teachers, C is pupils, D is reports and E is exams.

I’d say B is teachers, C is pupils. D and E are exams and reports but not sure which is which.

@WhenISnappedAndFarted settings - related to what?

A settings
B teachers
C pupils
D reports
E exams

Settings (teachers), Teachers, Students, Reports, Exams, left to right.

@UpstartCrow - if you had no 'boys' or 'girls' distinction, just a choice of Pupils/Teachers/Exams/Reports - what would you choose for each letter?

Settings might be for the teacher's profile, a list of their classes, not really sure, as I have no context.

@shoppingwithmother settings for which area? Pupils/Teachers/Exams/Reports ?

A - settings that can be altered by school staff? Maybe something to do with progression of pupils/attainment level being set.
B - teachers
C - pupils
D - exams or reports
E - reports or exams

D and E could be either. Both documents need to be completed regularly so yeah, wouldn't know straight away.

Erm - Teaching, Team (as in teaching staff school-wide), Pupils, Exams Reports maybe?

Well I don’t know - I would assume it was settings for your personal account on the whole system.

Could be anything from your username to the colour of the screen to printing....

sorry, i know i am being a bit vague, but, i don't want to put too much detail in with the categories without swaying opinion.
I just need to know what general area you think each icon would relate to.. eg. is icon X

• something to do with Exams (exams to be taken/exam results/exam entries...)
• something to do with Teachers (their timetable/subjects taught/personal details... )
• Something to do with Pupils (pupil class info, pupil contact info, pupil marks...)
• something to do with Reports (report history. end of year report writing...)

I thought "A" was for head teacher!

@shoppingwithmother

you're comments are really helpful =) However, could choose an area from the options which the settings might apply to? (it's OK if not and you think there is no correlation between 'A' and the others...)

@antimatter - settings for which of the 4 areas mentioned? (if any)

Well I guess if it was just to do with one thing then A would be linked to B, which I thought was about teachers

You can't use a cog and it not mean settings - for whatever your on, the website or app or program or whatever. People will get confused.

If there are no settings; you need to use a different icon for A.

After that I'd say teachers, then pupils, then reports then exams, in that order.

Overall the icons do not seem to relate to the categories you have atall. This means the system will be difficult to learn, not at all intuitive. Are you designing it, or trying to use it?!

I think Teacher Settings for A (presumably an area where teachers can log in and make changes?), Teachers for B, Pupils for C and I honestly wouldn't be able to make a guess between D and E for exams and reports, even knowing those are the two options.

IAmALentilWeaver You can get software that will export an image as an icon file, and I'd design from scratch.
For 'pupils/children' the accepted image is a girl and a boy.

Basically, no, they don't make any sense to me. C is pupils but B could also be pupils so I'd have to guess it was probably teachers if C was pupils. The others are totally ambiguous.

And yes, the cog is "settings" in pretty much every app I've used.

... it's not me designing this.