Comparing and contrasting icons used throughout human history extends beyond the idea of icon. We have always communicated visually through art and drawings. Icons are the modern version of
Both TikTok icons and hieroglyphs use pictures to communicate. TikTok’s icons show actions in their app, while hieroglyphs told stories and showed beliefs.
We can compare Tiktok’s icons to Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Considering music, Egyptian hieroglyphics tended to stick to instruments to depict music being played. While Tiktok started out as a music app and expanded to social media, it kept its logo as a musical note. Contrasting from the hieroglyphics as one is depicting an instrument and the other depicts a musical note played by an instrument, simplifying the meaning of music as universally music notes now depict that sound/music is being played.
One other interesting aspect of Tiktok is its integration of its own emojis. Users seem to enjoy using the Tiktok emojis, which are also expressive icons sometimes more than the default iPhone ones.
This shows that people enjoy new and different ways of expressing themselves.
Humans naturally understand visually which is why signs and drawings can connect people regardless of what language they speak. This universal idea is why emojis and icons work.
Sources
Gadalla, Moustafa. Egyptian Harmony: The Visual Music. Tehuti Research Foundation, 2000.
Emojipedia. “TikTok Emoji List & Emoji Meanings.” Emojipedia, 2024,
https://emojipedia.org/tiktok.
Baker, A. J. “Emojis Are Hieroglyphs, Says Curator of Israel Museum Exhibit.” The New York
Times, 22 Jan. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/arts/design/emojis-hieroglyphs-israel-museum.html
Alshenqeeti, Hamza. “Are Emojis Creating a New or Old Visual Language for New
Generations? A Socio-Semiotic Study.” Advances in Language and Literary Studies, vol. 7, no. 6, Dec. 2016, pp. 56-69, https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1126897.