Iconic semiosis and representational efficiency in the London Underground Diagram
Tipo
Artigo
Data de publicação
2014
Periódico
Cognitive Semiotics
Citações (Scopus)
4
Autores
Ata P.
Bitarello B.
Queiroz J.
Bitarello B.
Queiroz J.
Orientador
Título da Revista
ISSN da Revista
Título de Volume
Membros da banca
Programa
Resumo
© 2014 by De Gruyter Mouton 2014.The icon is the type of sign connected to efficient representational features, and its manipulation reveals more information about its object. The London Underground Diagram (LUD) is an iconic artifact and a well-known example of representational efficiency, having been copied by urban transportation systems worldwide. This paper investigates the efficiency of the LUD in the light of different conceptions of iconicity. We stress that a specialized representation is an icon of the formal structure of the problem for which it has been specialized. By embedding such rules of action and behavior, the icon acts as a semiotic artifact distributing cognitive effort and participating in niche construction.