semanticon

Semanticon is a proposed framework for embedding semantic metadata into icons and symbols used in digital interfaces. The goal is to align human recognition of pictorial symbols with machine-readable meaning, enabling more robust accessibility, searchability, and automation.

The framework specifies a data model, typically expressed in JSON-LD, to annotate individual icons with properties such as action (for example, play or delete), object (such as video or file), and context (application or platform). It also supports accessibility notes, localization, and mapping to established ontologies like Schema.org or the Web Ontology Language (OWL) to enable richer relationships between icons and their meanings.

Implementation hinges on extending standard icon formats (SVG, icon fonts) with metadata blocks or linked data, while prioritizing backward compatibility by allowing semantic annotations to be optional and to degrade gracefully in environments that do not process semantic data. Semanticon emphasizes interoperability with existing design systems and encourages clear governance of icon semantics to avoid ambiguity.

History and development trace the concept to a coalition of user experience researchers and web standards contributors in the mid-2020s. Since then, experimental implementations have appeared in select design systems and accessibility projects, aimed at evaluating the benefits and challenges of semantic icon tagging.

Adoption remains limited, with supporters noting improved accessibility, content discovery, and automated UI adaptation, and critics pointing to increased design workload, potential performance considerations, and fragmentation risks. Use cases include accessible UI icons, semantic search by meaning, and multilingual localization workflows.

See also: iconography, semantic web, accessibility, JSON-LD, schema.org.