List, I have noted discussions lately which are highly technical in terminological exactitude and also many arguments around such which I try to avoid because there are others better placed to shed light on such "catechism" (I use this respectfully, of course —it's important that one has a consistent use of said terms...).
Nonetheless, I remember years ago when I developed a conceptual/pragmatic (practical) understanding of how one might adapt the terms Icon, index, and symbol with respect to the formation of habit over time. The gist was this. Consider a person who is learning to type or play the piano — we'll stick to typing for now. The initial attempt (at competency) is such that one observes people typing with one finger and at a slow rate with a relatively high frequency of minor error. I call this "iconic" (within a qualified framework whereby Iconic is "simple" — relative — and Symbolic is complex, also relative, and the indexical is that which mediated the relation between the two: here, simplicity and complexity with respect to competence at a given task. Anyway, within a week, or two, the person may move to using two hands.... (this is consolidation of habit —one's competence is "symbolically reified"). Within a few months one is typing with two hands and also not looking at the keys as one goes about typing. The point I'm making is that mapping Icon-Symbol(Index) qua Simple-Complex(Habit) is quite fruitful in practical investigations. You can create, easily enough, though it's not my area, Artificial Intels which can abstract the general principle here. I wrote an essay on the topic which is long-disappeared (I lost a library of materials....) but I'm considering re-writing it. The spirit of the post, I suppose, though it will diverge (no doubt) from classical usages, is to suggest practical ways of exploring Peirce's ideas. Note, for instance, that what is simple/complex (here) depends entirely on habit —the acquisition of such, qua competence, and thus, rather algebraically I denote Icon-Symbol as functionally coeval to Simple-Complex with Indexicality mediating between the two. I do note certain similarities, here, with the graphs (the logic of the graphs is not, in a general overview, so far removed from such an endeavor as this). Anyway, just some practical thoughts. Best
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