It took me a minute to get my head around Twitter's latest redesign. I don't have a particularly strong opinion about the new blue-line-connected conversations, but the reverse in flow often has me moving my eyes in directions to which they are not accustomed. Right as I was catching my balance, the Twitter avatar up top came along and tipped me over.
What you see is a (humorous on its own) conversation between two game designers: QWOP designer Bennett Foddy and Proteus co-creator Ed Key. What you also see is Key's creative Twitter avatar, which "breaks" the conversation line between Foddy and himself. (You can download the image here.)
When I saw this on my phone this morning, I honestly didn't know what to make of it for a few seconds. (In my defense, I didn't had coffee yet.) I wondered, is there a way to actually break a conversation line? Was I looking at some heretofore unseen part of the new Twitter UI?
No, there is not; and no, I wasn't. Clever, Mr. Key. Very clever.
It's likely there are other versions of this sort of idea out there, and with a little time in an illustration program, you could probably make your own. What if we all replaced our avatars with broken blue lines? I shudder to think.