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The author has criticised the design of the "electric power steering system warning light" icon without suggesting a better alternative. What's the point of cri
by warpech 7y ago
The author has criticised the design of the "electric power steering system warning light" icon without suggesting a better alternative. What's the point of criticizing then? Some concepts are easier to depict literally, others are not.
The most important part about the car icons is the color: an orange icon means you can go, a red icon means you must immediately stop.
- falcolas 7y agoThe one that entertained me was the water temp warning icon - an icon that’s at least 50 years old. Its meaning is as well (if not more) established as the floppy disk as save.
- jkoberg 7y agoAnd, these icons adhere to international standards. They are not just "made up" to suit a designer's whim.
- jfengel 7y agoSome color blind users can't detect the difference between orange and red. Color is a useful design extra, but you need to take all users into account. There are lots of ways to do it. You could just include a page in the manual: "These icons indicate emergencies. Those other icons are just warnings," and expect color-blind users to memorize it. It's not optimal, but it's better than nothing. Emergency icons might be larger, or perhaps flash (gently). You could include a octagonal stop-sign border around icons that indicate emergencies. Using color as an additional channel for the 90+% of people in the world who can see it. But the remaining set (over 10% of men) are a sizeable audience.