From Aleph to Emoji. Semi-Serious Critique of Icons’ Affordance in the Digital Ecosystem Design

Abstract

The paper proposes a critical reflection on the use of icons –silent images– capable of communicating functionality, interactions and emotions, within digital communication ecosystems with particular reference to the mimesis/realism dichotomy and the concept of affordance as criteria for designing and decoding the visual message.

Keywords

• interface design
• affordance
• visual language
• digital communication ecosystems
• graphicacy