First: consider from the aspects of feeling and cognition.
1. Psychologically speaking, squares are relatively boring, while people prefer circles.
2. The brain can easily process the information in the circle and reduce the cognitive pressure.
3. Compared with the square, the circle is more flexible, organic, safe, pleasing to the eye, modern and friendly, and can communicate with others more emotionally.
4. I feel more concerned, such as thinking about the vision of a telescope or a magnifying glass.
Most photos are surrounded by meaningless background or information, and circles can be cut off.
6. Usually, taking photos will put the "person" in the center, and the distance from the center of the circle to the surrounding is the same, which can make the face stand out.
7. The diagonal of the square is longer than the side, and the user's eyes are easy to extend; The radius of the circle is the same, so users can spend less time understanding the content and their eyes don't need to move.
Second: From the perspective of design vision.
1. The line of sight has five focal points (four corners+center) in a square and only one focal point (center) in a circle.
2. Round lines or angles allow the line of sight to follow and move naturally, instead of staying at a 90-degree angle.
3. In the case of scanning, using circles can help users identify or distinguish whether it is content, because content is usually placed in a square container, such as words, photos or photo albums.
Third: From the perspective of product positioning.
For example, Weibo's head is round, and WeChat's head is round and square. It stems from a deep understanding of APP products.
The outer circle is the attitude of being a man, and the outer circle is the means. We need to establish contact with others, and we need a smooth and universal way of doing things. On the whole, we can mix well in the big scene. As for the internal aspect, it is actually our own measure of doing things and being human, that is, our own cognition. What we believe will not change, the goal and initial intention remain unchanged, but the way to achieve the goal is changed, and the heart is more our own heart.
As a social media, Weibo needs to achieve harmony in the torrent of information, so as to be more convenient to integrate with the circle. As a place for acquaintances to socialize, WeChat friends circle is more about showing personality, releasing self and representing its own energy.
Fourth: other factors determine.
1. After the popularity of mobile devices, the shape of a circle is similar to the shape of a finger pressing on the screen, so it is widely used.
2. In fact, human beings have had such applications for a long time, such as applying graphics to circular coins and circular art paintings.
3. It's just a design trend, just popular in the cycle of "circle".
4. Many guides or templates only provide circular versions.
5. The current CSS3 technology makes fillet (circle) easy to realize, and almost all browsers support it.
As shown below, comparing the two avatar forms, I elaborate three points:
1: A circular avatar can better help users focus on their faces. As mentioned in the previous analysis, the quality of photos taken by mobile phones is uneven. In this realistic situation, the circular head portrait is more conducive to ignoring the background of the photo and improving the efficiency of head portrait recognition.
Strictly speaking, the picture on the left can't be called an avatar, but a photo. There is a simple reason. As for the head, naturally, the "head" is exposed, and the head in the left picture only accounts for less than half of the picture. From this point of view, it is obvious that the picture on the right is more appropriate. When choosing a photo as an avatar, if it is round, users are more inclined to choose a photo of the face as an avatar; If it is square, users are relatively more casual, usually taking full-body or half-length photos. If you don't believe me, you can open your own WeChat and look at your friend's head.
3. In daily life, most of the photo frames we see are square, and there are fewer round photo frames, because most of the photos are square. Therefore, using a circular outline to represent the avatar can be quickly distinguished from the photo and become more prominent.