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Laundry symbols make no sense

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Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#121

Post by plorkyeran »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #67
masklinn wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, while I can feel with my hand whether water is "cold," "warm," or "hot." I honestly have no idea what the actual temperature of the water in my washer is in degrees Celsius. The explicit temperatures are for machine washing, don't you just... set the washing temperature to whatever you want? If you're washing by hand, it's unlikely that you're washing above 40C, and that's if you like hurting yourself: at 50C…

My US market washing machine has settings for "hot", "warm", and "cold", but if there's a way to set temperature to a number, it is not intuitive and I am not aware of it (it may exist this is a 'digital' machine!). If it did have a way to set a wash temp to an arbitrary number, it would presumably be in F not C! I think this is typical for US washing machines? Do (eg) European washing machines instead typically have…

My apartment's washing machines don't even have hot/warm/cold. It has "bright colors", "colors", and "whites", which _hopefully_ correspond to three different temperatures, and then things like "delicates" where the temperature is a surprise (I hope it's cold?).

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#122

Post by Twirrim »

happytoexplain wrote: post #54

Wow! The new icons have unacceptably small details, and I'm not sure how that's not obvious to even non-designers. And yet the author claims their set puts usability in front of beauty, as opposed to the originals ? I don't usually write this negatively, but this really provoked an emotional reaction in me. Self-evidence is only one desirable quality of iconography, and it is not the most important one. Legibility is…

Something that seems a bizarre change is the iron one, almost makes me wonder if this is someone that ever irons clothes. Going from dots to a thermometer?

1) Irons have respective dots on them. I can look at the clothes, look at the iron, and turn the temperature dial to the matching setting. I'm not playing guessing games of "where on the dial is 1/3rd?", there's a literal dot that matches the symbol.

2) The temperature symbols now go from easy to distinguish to confusing, especially when smaller and lighting not so great. Is it a 1/3 of the way through? 2/3rs? Counting dots is way, way easier and quicker.

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#123

Post by dfxm12 »

croes wrote: post #103
b112 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really find the idea that "having to know, or lookup stuff", as a problem, offensive. Laundry is literally filled with things to know, outside of these symbols. Household tasks are. I don't see labels on bleech bottles, saying not to mix it with vinegar or you could die. Yet people have done that in the wash, so why not start there? Here's what each sane person should do, who actually takes time to look at tags. (a…

Perhaps the symbols should simply be printed on the detergent packaging together with an explanation.

In what language(s)? Then you run out of room on the packaging/waste paper. The point of symbols is that they can tell more information in a smaller space and can be recognized universally.

Maybe you gotta look them up on your own, but after a while, you learn the ones you need to.

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#124

Post by bombcar »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #79
cameronh90 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All washing machines I've used in the UK have a temperature selector dial. They usually offer a number of presets such as 30c, 40c, 60c and 90c.

Interesting! I don't believe that's how USA washing machines work, they usually just say "hot", "warm", and "cold". Apparently USAians are washing machine philistines who don't need more than three temperatures and don't know what they are? Anyway, this shows another challenge in these icons, the international diversity of washing techniques and technology. (Edit: I found one possible answer online -- Euro washing ma…

I suspect washers with heaters come from places that original had cold water only.

The reality is we are overthinking it - "cold/warm/hot" is about all we need, and "warm" is really just "fill as fast as possible" often, since it opens both hoses.

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#125

Post by Aeolun »

happytoexplain wrote: post #54

Wow! The new icons have unacceptably small details, and I'm not sure how that's not obvious to even non-designers. And yet the author claims their set puts usability in front of beauty, as opposed to the originals ? I don't usually write this negatively, but this really provoked an emotional reaction in me. Self-evidence is only one desirable quality of iconography, and it is not the most important one. Legibility is…

> If I can't read the details, or they easily wear off or fade, then it doesn't matter how self-describing they are.

You can reverse this too. If I never understand what they mean, it doesn’t matter that I can still read them.

I mean, I agree there’s too many hard to read details, but the originals are absolutely impenetrable.

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#126

Post by csixty4 »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #66
carlmr wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they are a lot more intuitive than the old ones, but I'd need to look up some stuff. I don't know what's the difference between normal, perm press and delicate for example. Or why the 3 knobs on the washing machine should represent it The flask for bleach, and the drying symbols are much clearer though. The detail in some is a bit too high for some clothing tags, I'd agree on that.

Speaking of bleach though - when was the last time anyone here used bleach while washing clothes? I have never in my entire life done so.

I use it all the time. In fact I was staying at an airbnb recently and my hair dye stained all his towels and pillow cases (a week after I got it done!) so I gave them a good bleaching before I left and left them sparkling white.

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#127

Post by masklinn »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #67
masklinn wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, while I can feel with my hand whether water is "cold," "warm," or "hot." I honestly have no idea what the actual temperature of the water in my washer is in degrees Celsius. The explicit temperatures are for machine washing, don't you just... set the washing temperature to whatever you want? If you're washing by hand, it's unlikely that you're washing above 40C, and that's if you like hurting yourself: at 50C…

My US market washing machine has settings for "hot", "warm", and "cold", but if there's a way to set temperature to a number, it is not intuitive and I am not aware of it (it may exist this is a 'digital' machine!). If it did have a way to set a wash temp to an arbitrary number, it would presumably be in F not C! I think this is typical for US washing machines? Do (eg) European washing machines instead typically have…

> My US market washing machine has settings for "hot", "warm", and "cold"

What the hell? That’s barbaric.

> Do (eg) European washing machines instead typically have you set wash temp to an arbitrary number of °C?

Not arbitrary except possibly on high-end machines but even entry-level stuff have temp settings for the usual stuff: cold (whatever’s out the tap), 30, 40, 60, 90.

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#128

Post by masklinn »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #79
cameronh90 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All washing machines I've used in the UK have a temperature selector dial. They usually offer a number of presets such as 30c, 40c, 60c and 90c.

Interesting! I don't believe that's how USA washing machines work, they usually just say "hot", "warm", and "cold". Apparently USAians are washing machine philistines who don't need more than three temperatures and don't know what they are? Anyway, this shows another challenge in these icons, the international diversity of washing techniques and technology. (Edit: I found one possible answer online -- Euro washing ma…

> I found one possible answer online -- Euro washing machines may actually have water heaters built in, while American washing macchines may just use the existing house "hot water supply". So Euro machines can heat to desired temp, while American ones just have to take what they get!

Ah so it’s the same deal as the dishwashers, I should have figured.

> Euro houses don't usually have a central "hot water tank" like US has? Why THAT is would be yet another question...).

Commonly not, although it does absolutely exist water is frequently heated up on-demand.

However a better reason might be the same as the kettle thing: the US being on 120V, so getting hot water out the furnace or hot water tank is waaay faster than heating it up on the spot.

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#130

Post by the_mitsuhiko »

While I agree that the original icons are quite confusing they are incredibly googleable and they are also printed in manuals everywhere and super easy to match. More importantly there are apps like Laundry Lens which can reliably detect them and explain them.
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