The Magnifying-Glass Icon in Search Design: Pros and Cons

Recommendations on how to best use the magnifying glass icon for search fields. Oddly, there’s no mention of the problem that the icon is ALSO used for zoom controls.

The Magnifying-Glass Icon in Search Design: Pros and Cons


Users recognize a magnifying-glass icon as meaning ‘search’ even without a textual label. The downside is that icon-only search is harder for users to find.