Abstract: The mutual understanding of intentions is essential to human communication. A web-mediated communication lacks elements that are natural in face-to-face conversation. This fact requires treating intentions more explicitly in computer systems. Literature hardly explores design methods and interactive mechanisms to support users in this task. In this article, we argue that icons representing emotions play a central role as means for aiding users to express intentions. This research proposes a method to determine and refine icons aiming to represent and communicate the users’ intentions via computer systems. The work explores a theoretical framework based on Speech Act Theory and Semiotics to analyze different classes of intention. The method is experimented in a case study with 40 users and the obtained results suggest its feasibility in the process of filtering, selecting and enhancing icons to communicate intentions Ver menos