My fascination towards the use of web-related symbols always leads me to spot occurrences such as the one shown here. Seen in Lyon this week, the pictures depicts the use of the at sign in two interesting configurations.
If we look carefully at the idioms that are created here, we notice a naive-but-interesting mixture of the interweb meme.
"Web n'c@ll" is quite intriguing as it reveals that this shop provide its customers with a web access and the possibility to make phone calls abroad. The presence of the "at" in the "call" word is curious because it does not really mean something (I take the "at" as the symbol for emails, so it's hard to call using the email protocol). it must definitely be a trick to make the "web n'c@ll" brand much more hip (!).
The second picture tells us a different story. I love this sign although nervous graphic designer will find it ugly. IMO, it represents the hybridization of mobile phone communication and the interwebs. The shop actually sells cell-phones, among which one can buy smart phones that allow a connection to the internet. It's interesting to notice how this symbol is used for representing the possibility to access the information super-highway.
Why do I blog this? observing traces of interweb culture in everyday objects. Now that the terms "web" or the "@" sign is much more common, it's curious to see how they're employed here and there to communicate various meanings. I take it as an example of the meme circulation in the public sphere.
That said, it seems that the sign is not very common yet, as shown by the picture below, taken in the same street, with a weird capital "a" in the "at sign":
