The continuum model was characterized by a number of separate channels of visual communication that comprised the plural range. However, Alloway had also assumed that flows between channels—akin to information flows—would occur. These—such as the way that fine artists could learn from the work of science fiction illustrators—were to be welcomed because they offered further visual possibilities. Two significant flows occurred in 1956, and both involved members of the IG. The main one was the use of images from American advertising and/or popular culture employed by Richard Hamilton, John McHale, and Eduardo Paolozzi, and the possibility it offered eventually became Pop art.

From his celebrated collage for the This Is Tomorrow poster, Just what is it that makes today's homes do different, so appealing?, Hamilton pursued works derived from American advertisements for automobiles— Hommage à Chrysler Corp. (1957) and Hers is a lush situation (1958), for example. He acknowledged the influence of IG discussions and stated that his work had become not so much to do with “finding art forms but [more] an examination of values.” One would have thought this approach would recommend itself to Alloway but, surprisingly, he dismissed the paintings. According to Hamilton, he asked Alloway on the staircase of the ICA one evening in 1957 what he thought of his new paintings. Alloway's blunt reply was, allegedly, “I think they're stupid.” Hamilton explains the response by suggesting that Alloway believed it was a “heresy… to pull things out from one point along the continuum and drop them in at another, then stir well—the fine/pop soup alternative.” But this explanation does not accord with Alloway's stated views. Setting aside the issue about the extent to which Hamilton's approach represented a “soup” rather than a traditional main course with one or two new ingredients, a more plausible explanation for Alloway's response is that he thought that the paintings were neither sufficiently interesting formally nor legible enough iconographically. Alloway undoubtedly valued Hamilton's work on This is Tomorrow, and he collaborated with him on An Exhibit in 1957. However, Hamilton's question may have come at the time it was decided to drop Alloway's influence on spectator participation for the second showing of An Exhibit in Newcastle.