All posts tagged symbols

Icons and Iconic Representation

Icons or pictorial images are nearly as common as the air we breath, they are around us, everywhere. They help us immediately recognize things, without language. They are vital in the way we learn and remember things as well. They help save space, draw attention and teach us.

There are four distinct categories of icons, example, symbolic, similar and arbitrary.

Example Icons

Cut IconExample icons usually depict or exemplify a complex action, object or concept in one image. They do this by using an image that most viewers can immediately identify with that encompasses all of its related actions or concepts. A good example of this is an icon of scissors which indicates “to cut” even if the action doesn’t really use scissors the action is exemplified by the icon itself and we associate it immediately with cutting.

Symbolic Icons

Lock IconSymbolic icons exist at a higher level of abstraction, and are used when actions or concepts use well accepted and recognizable objects. An example of a symbolic icon would be that of a padlock on a electronic car key. We know that a closed lock would indicate locking the doors and an open lock the opposite, and we know this because of the icons symbolic nature, as the padlock has nothing to do with the actual locking mechanism of the car or how it operates.

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