Get in the habit of looking for pairs in whatever design problem you’re working on; push two things together into one image. For example, if you’re selling a home-security system, you could begin with the image of a lock or barbed wire or an armed guard and combine it with a house.
The power of graphic fusion comes from combining two cliches, symbols or aspects of a situation into one new image. Think in terms of either addition (adding something to an image) or substitution (replacing part of an image with something else).
Here are some examples of addition:
• For the book “Mechanism of Mind,” the cover image features a big wind-up key on the back of Rodin’s “The Thinker.”
• A photograph for a magazine article about genetically engineered foods shows a tomato that’s been sliced, then stitched back up.
• A poster for a Lincoln, NE, marathon simply shows a black stovepipe hat whose brim is mottled with the white grime of dried sweat. (The fitting headline reads, “The Lincoln Marathon. One score and 6.2 miles. May 7, 2000.”)
And examples of substitution:
• A holiday mailer promoting “PEACE” substitutes a wishbone for the letter A.
• Milton Glaser’s famous poster of Bob Dylan replaces his hair with curly rainbows of color.
• For the American Institute of Architects’ proposed headquarters in New York City, the campaign’s symbol is a key, where the jagged negative space of the key’s teeth has been replaced by the similarly jagged shape of the city’s skyline.
- See more at: http://www.howdesign.com/articles/metaphor/#sthash.xWm85rkR.dpuf