We are surrounded by a rich terrain of icons, visual metaphors that are immediately recognizable to everyone. Depending on your age, cultural background, or region, we each possesses a unique catalog of icons onto which we load meaning and past experience. Some icons are incredibly powerful, due to their ubiquity across the cultural landscape. This trend highlights the reinterpretation of these familiar symbols into new, playful, and unexpected contexts. Users bring their own past experiences to the icon, which become layered over new context to create a powerful collision of both fresh and familiar. To best take advantage of this established trend, it is critical that you select an icon that is ubiquitous and positively regarded in the collective minds of your target market. 1970’s beach chair: good. Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses: good. The black brick power adapter plugged into my laptop: bad.
I love the unexpected twists, turns and adaptations. The mix between the expected and unappreciated with the unexpected create such great, dynamic design and provide such great reactions. Truly embracing the perceptions people have with certain designs but changing the responses! Great description!