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> it (the icon on the Command Key) was designed by Susan Kare back in the '80s No it wasn't. The symbol is very old and all over Scandinavia. Kare offered it a

by mhurron 10y ago

> it (the icon on the Command Key) was designed by Susan Kare back in the '80s No it wasn't. The symbol is very old and all over Scandinavia. Kare offered it as one of several options presented for the icon of the Command Key.

derefr 10y ago
There probably isn't any single symbol-glyph composing five-or-fewer lines that isn't "very old and all over"; there are only so many possibilities on the low end of complexity. It's still a matter of original design to think of using a particular symbol-glyph to visually represent a previously-unsymbolized thing in a new domain.
- henrikeh 10y ago
  On the contrary, Susan Kare herself mentioned the Swedish origin as the source for inspiration[0] > So I said, "Let's try something abstract." So I was pouring through books of symbols, and I thought it was a sign on Swedish campgrounds that meant "interesting feature," or something to look at that was interesting. So that seemed to fit. And it lent itself to being digital without being jagged. That definitely came from a symbol book, or an interpretation of something in a symbol book that sort of made sense. Because I like the idea instead of just drawing some shape and saying "That's the control key," even though nobody who ever saw it-- actually, every now and then I hear from someone who actually had seen one of the signs. Mainly it is just abstract, but I knew it meant something relevant. [0]: http://web.archive.org/web/20150527143227/http://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/library/mac/primary/interviews/kare/mac.html http://web.archive.org/web/20150527143227/http://web.stanfor...
  - derefr 10y ago
    I didn't mean to imply that she wasn't taking inspiration from a thing that existed already. My point was that, when you're a designer asked to "create" a symbol-glyph, there's nothing you can do but to draw inspiration from something that exists already. Every little squiggle humans can make with a pen already has some connotation or another; design, then, is about searching the design-space for an existing squiggle that already has the connotation you want along with the least conflicting "ownership."
    - kuschku 10y ago
      She didn’t draw inspiration. She literally copied it, 1:1.
      - coldcode 10y ago
        Copying from history is a choice, that's what a designer does. There were many phones before the iPhone. There were computers before the Mac. There were wheels before Firestone. Knowing what to choose and have it work as a design in a skill most people do not have. As Steve Jobs said "Good artists copy; great artists steal" which I believe is also a copy.

by mhurron 10y ago

derefr 10y ago

There probably isn't any single symbol-glyph composing five-or-fewer lines that isn't "very old and all over"; there are only so many possibilities on the low end of complexity. It's still a matter of original design to think of using a particular symbol-glyph to visually represent a previously-unsymbolized thing in a new domain.

henrikeh 10y ago
On the contrary, Susan Kare herself mentioned the Swedish origin as the source for inspiration[0] > So I said, "Let's try something abstract." So I was pouring through books of symbols, and I thought it was a sign on Swedish campgrounds that meant "interesting feature," or something to look at that was interesting. So that seemed to fit. And it lent itself to being digital without being jagged. That definitely came from a symbol book, or an interpretation of something in a symbol book that sort of made sense. Because I like the idea instead of just drawing some shape and saying "That's the control key," even though nobody who ever saw it-- actually, every now and then I hear from someone who actually had seen one of the signs. Mainly it is just abstract, but I knew it meant something relevant. [0]: http://web.archive.org/web/20150527143227/http://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/library/mac/primary/interviews/kare/mac.html http://web.archive.org/web/20150527143227/http://web.stanfor...
- derefr 10y ago
  I didn't mean to imply that she wasn't taking inspiration from a thing that existed already. My point was that, when you're a designer asked to "create" a symbol-glyph, there's nothing you can do but to draw inspiration from something that exists already. Every little squiggle humans can make with a pen already has some connotation or another; design, then, is about searching the design-space for an existing squiggle that already has the connotation you want along with the least conflicting "ownership."
  - kuschku 10y ago
    She didn’t draw inspiration. She literally copied it, 1:1.
    - coldcode 10y ago
      Copying from history is a choice, that's what a designer does. There were many phones before the iPhone. There were computers before the Mac. There were wheels before Firestone. Knowing what to choose and have it work as a design in a skill most people do not have. As Steve Jobs said "Good artists copy; great artists steal" which I believe is also a copy.