Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Iconic?



Why is a striped T-shirt an icon for "small boy"? It helps if the stripes are red and white. Is there a similar icon for "little girl"?

What are other icons— especially those that may be useful in exhibit design? I can think of plenty of negative ones, starting with the old Cleveland Indians "logo". Eliciting a reaction— positive, one hopes (though negative may also be useful)— may help visitors relate to thematic concepts of an exhibition.

Images are from the New Yorker and Wikipedia.

1 comment:

Tim Reynolds said...

What do you think about Visual cultural studies? This seems to be right up your ally. One image that libraries fight against is the lady in glasses and hair in a bun. I dont mind the glasses but if I am going to wear my hair as a woman a bun is the last style I would try :P Unfortunately, many women feel the same way and now we might go to the extreme and do the sexy librarian look and lose professionalism.