Abstract:

Design, as an artificial production, was born as a product of the human mind. Human beings interact with their environment while designing. For this reason, every technological product bears traces from the real world. Various functions need to be explained in order to easily convey the functions of the vehicles produced with the increase in mechanization to the users. It is seen that the past codes of the human mind are effective, especially when transforming abstract concepts into concrete material realities. The use of metaphor in concretizing abstract purposes in the mind with design helps to compare and explain and enriches the visuality. With metaphor, it is sometimes possible to convey a content that can be explained in many words to the user with a visual. Two-dimensional screens brought about by digitalization in the 19th century gave birth to interface design. Interface designs have also created button designs that enable interaction. The button has become the most practical and memorable element of interaction in the interface. The button designs used in screen designs are reflections of the buttons used in mechanization. In terms of their function, buttons find a certain place in social memory. As a graphic design product, button designs began with the use of bright and text on computer screens in the 1990s. With the development of computer technologies, the share of graphic effects on screens has increased in favor of the user. Thus, the buttons are visually enriched according to their purpose. The button, which turns into an icon design product, is visually embodied with metaphors. The aim of the study is to evaluate the objects symbolizing the metaphor and design relationship and their meanings through the buttons used in the computer interface. Quality data analysis and literature research on the visual and concept relationship were carried out through the use of metaphor in creating the symbol from the image. The subject is explained with button design examples. The scope of the research consists of five button designs in the user interface design of Mac-OS software, which is the second most used operating system in the world. Button designs were examined in terms of purpose of use, visual and semantic relationship, and use of metaphor. Accordingly, various images become metaphorical symbols in the visualization of buttons as examples of icon design.

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