Icon Analysis

Icons have a large impact on society and would be considered an important part of pop culture. Icons can define a person, they can be heroes, legends or heirlooms; it all depends on how the person looks at it. The icons I chose are the iPod, The BlackBerry, and emoticons.

These icons all share a relatively common trait; they revolutionized the way we look at things. The iPod was revolutionized the way we use mp3 players, the BlackBerry revolutionized the way business people intertwine business projects and pleasure on a single device and the wonderful emoticons revolutionized the way people text.

The reason why I chose these is because of what they did for society and what they mean to me. Each has their own uniqueness and although they have been around a decent amount of time, they each brought something to the table that has yet to really been toped.

The apple iPod first hit the market back in 2001 for an excessive price of $399. Look at all the hype that was created around it. I chose this icon because it really set the tone for mp3 players and challenged the existence of CD players. The concept was brilliant and the slogan was catchy "1,000 songs in your pocket". To me, the iPod symbolizes the change from old to new, from playing it safe to thinking outside the box, to push the envelope of competition to keep up with current trends. The iPod is still going strong today with the latest release of their iPod touch in 2007. It also still arguably the best mp3 player on the market and has become a part of our common everyday language.

The BlackBerry phones first came to the marketplace in 2002 and although it is not the first smart phone, it became the first to optimize wireless email use and other business related functions. It is the second most popular smart phone brand behind the Symbian. What this means to me is the change phones took to accommodate the users, instead of simply being a device to make calls. BlackBerry devices have become an everyday item and have become part of today's pop culture. For me the BlackBerry really allows me to be able to keep all my work projects and personal life together on one device.

Emoticons are great little key character combinations that changed the way we text and greet one another through electronic messages. Even though emoticons have been around since the early 80s, currently they have become second nature. An emoticon can represent an expression, a mood or just a quirky of being unique. I am a heavy texter so to me they have really changed the way I text people or end my messages. It is to the point now where you can sum an entire message up with just a few simple emoticons. They have become widely used across different devices and people are always creating more imaginative ways to express themselves with keyboard characters. They have become a large part of pop culture in the realm of messaging. :0 ;-) :-} :-D

-Chris-