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Iconography — the universal language of the digital age
Hey design fam, let’s tackle the elephant in the room — can we actually build top-notch user experiences relying solely on iconography? It was a heated debate during our last team brainstorm. While some dismissed icons as mere eye candy, I’m firmly planted on the “icons are essential” side of the argument. These visual workhorses pack way more substance than just aesthetic appeal.
If you caught my previous musings, you know I’ve dived deep into how the lock icon can mislead, why spark icon will be perfect choice to represent Ai, and weighed the pros and cons of horizontal vs. vertical more icon.
But now it’s time we give iconography the full spotlight it deserves.
The rise of the iconography
Even before we could form words, humans processed the world through visuals. As infants, we built our first neural connections by recognizing faces, objects and patterns through sight alone. From those primal roots, iconography has been core to how we learn, communicate and retain information across millennia.
Ancient hieroglyphs transcribed entire stories through illustrated symbols. Medieval iconography assigned heraldic meaning to colors, creatures and crests. By the time the modern era arrived, we instinctively comprehended visual signifiers like the roaming hobo sigils or the classic restroom figures.
So by the digital revolution, we were already hardwired to decode icons. Which was crucial, as these new interfaces facilitated experiences too complex for text alone.
Mobile’s skyrocketing popularity first forced iconography into the UX limelight. Those tiny displays were too cramped to accommodate wordy buttons and labels. Designers compressed entire functions into single symbols — an envelope for messages, a compass for navigation. Quickly, we remembered what each icon represented through simple repetition.
