okay i'm going to say something unhinged about south park.
in "the magic bush" when it's mentioned that laura tucker also has hair trailing down her stomach, i went weak in the knees. that's the hottest thing that's ever happened in the show and i can say it was specifically to make me go feral.
The use of pictorial images to improve the recognition and recall of signs and controls.
Icons can be used for identification, such as a company logo. They can serve as a space-efficient alternative to text, such as road signs, or to draw attention to an item within an informational display, such as an error icon next to input box.
There are four types of iconic representation: similar, example, symbolic and arbitrary.
Similar icons - they use images that are visually analogous to an action, object, or concept. They’re most effective at representing simple actions, objects, or concepts and less effective when the complexity increases. For example, similar right turn road signs.
Example icons - they use images of things that exemplify or are commonly associated with an action, object, or concept. They’re most effective at representing complex actions, objects, or concepts. For example, an airplane can indicate the location of the airport.
Symbolic icons - they use images that represent an action, object, or concept at a higher level of abstraction. They’re most effective when actions, object, or concepts involve well-established and easily recognizable objects. For example, an image of an open padlock on a car indicates its function even though the padlock looks nothing like the actual control.
Arbitrary icons - they use images that bear little or no relationship to the action, object, or concept. The relationship has to be learned and the icons should be only used when developing cross-cultural or industry standards that will be used for long periods of time. This gives people sufficient exposure to an icon to make it an effective communication device. For example, the radiation icon has to be learned as nothing particular to the image that indicates radiation but anyone who works with radiation immediately recognizes it.
Design Tips For Iconic Representation
Iconic representation reduces performance load, conserves display and control area, and make signs and controls more understandable across cultures.
Icons must be labelled and share a common visual motif (style and colour) to optimize performance.
Use similar icons when representations are simple and concrete.
Use example icons when representations are complex.
Use symbolic icons when representations involve well-established and recognizable symbols.
Use arbitrary icons when representations are to be used as standards.
