If I say “fire hydrant” to you, does the following image immediately comes to mind?
This is how fire hydrants are marked in Perth, Western Australia.
I only noticed these recently!
Another iconographic disconnect I had fairly recently was postal boxes in Singapore. How many of you would think “a red box” or “a red pillar” at the thought of a postal box? It took me a few days of looking around in puzzlement before I realised that looking for some sort of red box in street corners was futile. The postal boxes in Singapore are plain white or shiny stainless steel, and more often found inside building lobbies or on the sides of shopping centres.
Are you currently using icons/symbols/memes in your communications that may confuse your audience?
