I'm creating a PDF and it should contain a hyperlink to google maps. The link must be represented by the Google Maps logo. What is the right way to indicate to the reader that the logo is a clickable link?
I thought about underlining the logo with a dashed line or adding an external link icon in front of the logo.
My customer suggested to add an arrow under the logo, pointing to the right, but I considered it confusing for the reader.
You could use an external link icon next to the logo, such as the kind seen at the end of Wikipedia's external links.
Something like this perhaps?
This totally depends on the other UI of your project. Is this the one and only clickable stuff?
One option is to add a shadow to it.
I haven't tested this, but it seems you can add mouseOver effects on a PDF. Take a look: Can you create interactive pdf with changing images on mouseover?
There are many possibilities, the one I use on my CV is Text+icon:
I used to work in an online gaming company with games on touchscreen terminals and watching people playing, if you don't indicate that there is a place where you can access to a link, a very large percentage will never touch it, even if it is a big red blinking button.
The standard is the underlined blue text, but depends the environment may not be very noticeable. The same with the icon. Both things together leave less doubt.
The most understandable icon to click on a map or place, besides the one from Google Maps, is:
I understand your boss.
One of the biggest mistakes we (all the designers) have, is to think that our work is for millennials or people who perfectly knows the use of apps, websites and computers. But the reality is that there are many people who don't even know that a PDF can have links.
