Enacting computer icons. The dynamics of interpretation between forms and diagrams

The transposition of icons and interfaces in a plu rality of devices and software questions the processes of meaning con struction involved in their use and interpretation. The analysis of four appare ntly simple icons used to send an email on an iPhone leads us to investigate C. S. Peirce's conception of iconism and the Gestaltic notion of form. Icons are operationally defined as what enables us to do/understand something more. Icons are thus grounded in a bundle of practices according to which the "more" c an be established. An adequate description of their meaning relies on a d iagrammatical approach: through established habits users infer local config uration of meaningful relations (Gestaltic forms) to guide their action a nd relations that can be further manipulated and modified.