Reflection point: Icons

Icons are about of daily life. Everything we use that has a digital function has one. Icons are images that give us direction on what the use will be for a button, switch, or a click of the mouse/tap of the finger. They guide us through simple directions that we now see this image and we don’t have to think about what this button does and what the outcome will be.

First example is the power icon. We all see this on a daily basis. Whether on the computer, video game console, tv, light switch, etc. This icon is significant because humans now see this and know that this will turn on/off whatever device it is on.

The Wifi and battery icons are also on almost any device now with the demand of Wifi being so high and the digital products we use needing to let us know how much battery life is left in them. These are significant icons because we can see in less than a second if we have a good connection to the internet and how much life is left on our device.

The lightbulb icon is a very easy to understand icon. This is icon was on a air purifier I have in the living room. It is also found on many other devices around the house.

Play/pause is a very common icon to find on most devices and any app that has a video or audio option. This has been ingrained in us as humans since the 80s with walkmans to play music and VHS players to play video tapes. Now with devices like Apple TV or Roku that are a digital platform for the computer to play videos this is on most peoples remote they use daily.

These five icons are just a small example of icons in the digital world that most people use daily. They help users understand the actions they are doing and what the results will be without having to read directions. The whole point of icons is to give a set of instructions with one image. These icons I presented are a good example of icons that provide instructions and we don’t have to think about it.