Toolbar Icon Legibility

[steve willis]

The legibility of the toolbar icons is far inferior to that in earlier
versions of Office. Did you ever pilot this or employ specialists in this
filed to access how quickly and easily they are recognised? If not, you
should do this.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

They did do such testing ("usability lab"), and alas, the icons survived.
Many real-world testers urged more clarity for the icons during development.
I have no clue how/why these fuzzy ill-defined mini-tributes to
impressionism passed final muster.