To convey information in a small image can be a difficult task, but ideally should be recognisable at a glance. I thought it would be hard to screw up a 5 star rating system, but checkout this proposal:
https://rateyourmusic.com/board_message?message_id=7419371
In the first proposal, I try and count the coloured areas to work out what star rating it is, and it stresses me out. The more I look at it, the worse it gets.
The revised, second proposal is easier to (roughly) tell what it is at a glance, yet the 2.5-3.5 ratings are still difficult. It’s still hard to count because each piece isn’t even, yet it represents equal value. Each piece represents a 0.5 rating, so two coloured pieces equals 1 star, but the second piece to be coloured is smaller. Furthermore, the fully coloured image is a single star, yet represents 5. Terrible.
Their current design which they want to replace looks like this:
It is very easy to understand this at a glance. It looks clean and conveys the information. Maybe they could get rid of the solid circle and put the number there instead.
There is always the tried and tested classic, retro design.
Stranger Coding Tings 