Presented is a method of automatically performing an action, based on graphical input. The method comprises: receiving, for a user, an input image; comparing the input image with the contents of a user-customized database comprising a plurality of records, each record representing a predefined class of image, wherein the user has previously associated records in the database with respective specified actions; attempting to recognize the image, based on the similarity of the input image to one of the predefined classes of image represented in the user-customized database; and if the image is recognized, performing the action previously associated by the user with the class. Also presented is apparatus for recognizing an image and a method of constructing a user-customized database.