Interesting. Unless I was designing something with the understanding that my ENTIRE audience was comprised of electrical engineers, I doubt I would think this is a very good design. Which brings me back to 'How did this awful thing get to be so widespread and popular?" Was there a particular product that used it once, way back in the dark ages, that injected it's branding and just beat the world population into understanding that "this means power"?
On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 2:43 PM, William Evans <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From electrical engineering. Its a closed circuit. > > will evans > user experience architect > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 617.281.1281 > > > On Feb 27, 2008, at 5:37 PM, "Shaun Bergmann" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > A discussion came up at the office today that got me wondering. > > Do any of you know the history of the 'Power' Icon? You know the > > one: The > > circle with the vertical bar pointing up and overlapping the top > > edge of the > > circle. > > > > This icon was being incorporated into an interface and the argument > > was made > > that "not everybody is going to know what that icon means" > > > > That's totally possible. If anything stands out as a good example of > > the > > statement that there are no intuitive interfaces -- all interfaces are > > learned -- it's this icon. The only reason people are going to know > > that > > it's the power button is because they know it's the power button. > > > > I looked at it's design from a fresh perspective today and really > > have to > > question WHY it's become so prevalent? Visually, it doesn't say > > "power" to > > me. Where'd this thing come from? > > ________________________________________________________________ > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
