Noun Project – Icons for Everything
Little pictograms for buttons are often extremely vague and open to interpretation.<p>Eg. Heres a random game where upon opening it I was immediately confused 
<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;mobile.cdn.softpedia.com&#x2F;apk&#x2F;images&#x2F;color-switch_1.jpg" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;mobile.cdn.softpedia.com&#x2F;apk&#x2F;images&#x2F;color-switch_1.jp...</a>
(also the icons are all animated &#x2F; rotating, making it even more confusing, made this game menu stick out in my memory as an egregious example)<p>Some designers seems to love the minimalism of if though, from an aesthetic reason, I assume.<p>Imo Text is the clearest thing you can put on a button to tell the user what that button does &#x27;save&#x27; &#x27;load&#x27; &#x27;new game&#x27; etc. Yes, it will need to be translated, but thats simply putting in more work for a better product.