Icon Overload!
We live in a noisy world, and it’s getting louder by the day. In an attempt to cut through the clutter, we are surrounded by society’s increasing reliance on icons. Adored by Website creators, television Chyron producers and newspaper editors, these graphical representations are designed to catch the eye and quickly help us file information into categories.
I know you’re busy. I’m busy! But have we really become so time-challenged that the majority of information out there must be represented by penny-sized images?
A few icons here or there – fine. But recently, there has been a trend to create an icon for EVERYTHING. With so many call-to-action images everywhere, how can we take action on any of them?
You can sell me on an icon when it’s afloat in a sea of text. And that’s why it’s a nice fit (when used sparingly) on blogs and wordy Websites. To see television embrace the icon frenzy (like NBC”s Olympics coverage), is lame. TV is a visual medium, meaning that if an icon is your best chance to get a viewer’s attention, your camera people and photographers are failing miserably.
I love beautiful images and I enjoy gorgeous Websites. However, it has become clear that publishers are diluting their core message in an attempt to achieve perfect image symmetry.
Web 2.0 is already being ushered out, and I hope that it takes the icon look with it.
What do you think?