Glyphs and symbols are more likely what you're talking about. They are often referred to as icons in the tech field so I get the confusion with nomenclature. I

Glyphs and symbols are more likely what you're talking about. They are often referred to as icons in the tech field so I get the confusion with nomenclature. Icons are mostly represented as visually interesting identifying artifacts about your product. That's why we call app icons _icons_. The "icons" within the interface of that app, things that might tell you a menu is present or that a group of users is online, are symbols. Glyphs often conform to content. A good example of a glyph is an emoji or dingbats.