{"id":178,"date":"2025-02-04T09:02:14","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T09:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/Spring2025\/?p=178"},"modified":"2025-05-25T20:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T20:33:08","slug":"pictography-modern-icons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/Spring2025\/pictography-modern-icons\/","title":{"rendered":"Pictography & Modern Icons"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Instagram’s “Home” Icon vs. Egyptian Hieroglyphic “House” Symbol<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Instagram’s “Home” Icon: Instagram’s home icon is a simplified house outline, usually composed of lines, with a triangle on top to represent the roof and a square below to represent the main body of the house. This icon conveys the concept of “home” or “home interface”, and users can return to the main page of the application by clicking on it.
\n\u00b7 Egyptian Hieroglyphic “House” Symbol: In Egyptian hieroglyphics, the symbol for a house is also a simplified house outline, usually composed of a rectangle, similar to the simplified graphics of a modern house. This symbol not only represents a physical house, but may also symbolize the concept of “home” or “shelter”.<\/p>\n

Contrast and Connection: Both use highly simplified graphics to convey the concept of “house”, but Instagram’s icon is more abstract and focuses on functionality (navigation), while the Egyptian hieroglyphic house symbol focuses more on symbolism and cultural context.<\/p>\n

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2. Instagram\u2019s \u201cheart\u201d icon vs. Mayan hieroglyphic \u201cheart\u201d symbol<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Instagram\u2019s \u201cheart\u201d icon:Instagram\u2019s heart icon is used to represent \u201clike\u201d or \u201cthumbs-up\u201d and is a highly abstract heart-shaped outline. It conveys emotional approval or affection.<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Mayan hieroglyphic \u201cheart\u201d symbol: Mayan culture\u2019s heart symbol is often associated with life, soul, or emotion, and may be used to represent love, passion, or spiritual power. Mayan \u201cheart\u201d symbols are often more complex and may include decorative elements or be used in conjunction with other symbols.<\/p>\n

Contrast and connection: Both use the heart shape to convey emotional or spiritual concepts, but Instagram\u2019s heart icon is simpler and focuses on functionality (user interaction), while Mayan heart symbols focus more on cultural and religious significance.<\/p>\n

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Concepts conveyed:
\n\u00b7 Abstraction and functionality: Modern icons (such as Instagram\u2019s) are more abstract and functional, designed to quickly convey information and guide user behavior.
\n\u00b7Symbolism and culture: Ancient writing systems (such as Egyptian hieroglyphics and Mayan hieroglyphics) focus more on symbolism and cultural context and are often used to record complex ideas or stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Instagram’s “Home” Icon vs. Egyptian Hieroglyphic “House” Symbol \u00b7 Instagram’s “Home” Icon: Instagram’s home icon is a simplified […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-early-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/Spring2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/Spring2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/Spring2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/Spring2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/Spring2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/Spring2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182,"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/Spring2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions\/182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/Spring2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/Spring2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/Spring2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}