The perfect icon to visual customer experience design
It’s the modern day hieroglyphics we’ve all come to learn without being explicitly taught: a lock icon refers to “security.” A camera icon indicates photos, or an app to take them. A file folder icon tells you where you can search for all your digitized documents.
Music streaming services are indicated by an icon of two conjoined notes.
Health-care icons vary, but a mortar and pestle is common.
I had never really thought about what an icon for “customer experience” could look like. Until I saw it on TV.
Inspiration via Airbnb
My family and I were watching baseball, on one of those services that seems to replay the same commercials over and over.
I don’t know why I didn’t turn my eyes away, but I was watching an Airbnb spot for the umpteenth time when – alongside icons indicating where you could book a room and other services – an icon to access its various curated experiences appeared.
It was a hot air balloon.
OMG, I thought. That’s perfect.
While I’m not suggesting anyone infringe on Airbnb’s copyright (if, in fact, it is copyrighted — I’m not even sure if the icon is actually used in its platform or was just part of the TV spot), I’d like to suggest the CX community explore variations on the hot air balloon for a symbol of everything they do.
When the icon is about the brand vs. the customer
I did a quick check online and I did see other attempts at CX iconography.
Most of what I discovered were aimed more narrowly at customer service.
The recurring motif was of some faceless heads and shoulders with three stars (suggesting good reviews) haloing above them.
Sometimes you’d see a check mark, or a thumbs up added into the mix.
These all make sense, but they only reflect the positive outcome a brand is promising customers will experience. It doesn’t say anything about the experience itself.
My hot take on hot air balloons as a CX symbol
A hot air balloon is perfect because the CX community always talks about “elevating” experiences above the dreary routine.
It suggests an adventure customers will undertake, possibly exploring territory previously unknown to them.
There is also the physicality of riding a hot air balloon. Movement makes sense because effective CX has an impact on what customers, see, think and feel. Those kinds of experiences tend to involve more than merely sitting still.
A hot air balloon lets you see the world – and possibly a brand – from a fresh perspective.
Who cares about a CX icon, you might ask. To me, they’re helpful representations that create a sense of comfortable familiarity when you’re looking for an app on your phone, or a button on a web site.
CX should be just as instantly recognizable, and its icon should be about what customers get to do, not how great vendors are. Use the hot air balloon as you will, or not. I just wanted to float the idea.
