(Illustrated above) A scientist feels that the look of her new analysis application “fits into” her clinical research work. It has a white, color coded, clearly labeled feel that reminds her of the simple and informative labels on her lab’s reagent containers and packages.

An architect sees a visual resemblance between the elements in her building modeling application and offline tools found on a drafting table. For example, the application’s semi-transparent menus are the same milky color as the old, semi-transparent protractors in her desk drawer.

A financial trader has noticed that a number of key trading applications are starting to look more and more like a startup firm’s market information application, which has had an industry leading influence on design. The style somehow looks very “finance” to him, in a good way.

What iconic designs and products do targeted individuals find especially interesting and meaningful? Which workplace artifacts do they not feel an affinity for?

What historical designs in targeted cultures of practice are still iconic, even if they are not currently used?

What do workers attribute to those iconic artifacts that they value? What have these objects come to mean? What emotional connections do they hold?

Which features of certain iconic artifacts stand out to knowledge workers?

How might your team meaningfully incorporate chosen aspects of iconic designs into your application concepts?

Are there any opportunities to draw sweeping parallels between your envisioned product and an existing, iconic product? What impact might those iconic parallels have on your application’s strategic direction?

Which references to iconic artifacts could be appropriate for your product’s emerging brand? What impact might these references have on brand attributions?

What smaller resemblances to iconic designs could be valuable in your sketched functional areas?

How might iconic references lead to inappropriate interpretations of your product’s role and functioning? Where might more generic design approaches be appropriate for what your team is attempting to accomplish?

How might certain iconic cues relate to larger user interface conventions within your sketched application concepts? Which references could potentially provide value as part of your team’s reusable interface patterns?

Do you have enough information to usefully answer these and other envisioning questions? What additional research, problem space models, and design concepting could valuably inform your team’s application envisioning efforts?