Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Laundry symbols make no sense

uxdesign.cc

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 237 posts

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#211

Post by seszett »

AdamH12113 wrote: post #162
99_00 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are the benefits of an improvement worth the cost? Do you know how to do your laundry despite not knowing how to read the symbols?

I wash all my laundry on cold and dry on low heat because I'm fat and don't want my clothes to shrink. I have eight of the same black cotton T-shirt. I do not separate my laundry. I do not wear any exotic fabrics, designer clothes, or bright colors, and if I did, I would wash them in the same load of laundry as my other clothes. I am not a benchmark for laundry ability. Maybe there's some easy, incremental improvemen…

> we could have something a little more self-explanatory than triangle = bleach, circle = dry clean. The iron symbol is perfectly clear, for instance.

I think you (and others) are focusing on the wrong thing here. Are you likely to bleach your black t-shirts? Are you likely to dry clean them?

No, certainly not, these are special, rather uncommon processes that are unlikely to be part of one's daily washing routing, and therefore it doesn't really matter if they're not immediately obvious.

The washing and ironing temperature, as well as the hand wash symbol, are the ones that actually matter and they're also quite obvious. The tumble dry symbols are maybe less obvious and common enough today, they probably seemed like they were one of the less common processes back in the 70's in France (where tumble driers are only just beginning to be common today). I'm pretty sure you should ignore the "no tumble dry" symbols most of the time anyway if your tumble drier is more recent than the 70's. That's what I do.

So if you just ignore the symbols you don't understand, in most cases and for most people, everything will be fine and you will simply know what maximum temperature to wash your clothes.

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#212

Post by assttoasstmgr »

detritus wrote: post #9

Within a second of seeing the 'improved' ones I spot what is, to my mind at least, an immediate failure - the detail resolution is far too small. It doesn't account for the printing limitations on small fabric tags, never mind the ability of old fogeys such as myself to be able to squint that hard and actually read them. I have no idea even looking on my screen here what the difference between the first three is supp…

The failure of this UI/UX "expert" to grasp this most basic common sense detail is why modern websites and applications are generally speaking top-heavy UI/UX disasters.

Over the last 15 years or so I think we've taken a few giant steps backwards as we let freewheeling artists take over. Yet go back to the early 80s and look at the original Macintosh UI which was designed by an artist - Susan Kare - with complete elegance and simplicity. What has happened? Just because computers have increased in speed doesn't mean the complexity of the artwork must increase proportionally - often at the expense of usability.

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#213

Post by p_l »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #114
p_l wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe not regularly, as bleach is quite damaging to fabric and others, but often enough to have a bottle of bleach available in laundry room

Ok, just to clarify, do people say "bleach" when the mean products containing sodium percarbonate (like Vanish, OxiClean)? Or do you mean actual bleach (as in sodium hypochlorite)?

Well, I mostly use things like Vanish/OxiClean, but there are times when I hit proper bleach - but admittedly that one is rare enough (especially since switching to coloured bedsheets) that I do not keep bottle of sodium hypochlorite on hand.

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#214

Post by pronik »

The key assumption with this redesign is basically the same as with the old one: we are supposed to immediately understand what this icon is supposed to mean. However, what will our assumptions about things be in about 50 years, which is how long the previous icons existed? Will we even recognize a washing machine with its porthole as such or will it be the case of a 3.5" floppy as a "Save" icon, which has confused people for the last 15 years?

And besides that: do we really need new icons? Make an app which will recognize and interpret the icons and you are done without making several gigantic industries replace well-known and well-working pieces of their daily work.

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#216

Post by [deleted] »

corrral wrote: post #150
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…

Are people seeing some huge benefits from paying attention to these symbols? I've been, as the kids say, "adulting" for some time, and pay no attention to them. I couldn't draw a single one from memory. If you showed me one, I'd only be able to guess at the meaning. All I do is not wash stuff that says "dry clean only" (it always just says it in text, I have no idea if there even is a symbol for that) and favor coole…

[deleted]

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#217

Post by novosel »

detritus wrote: post #9

Within a second of seeing the 'improved' ones I spot what is, to my mind at least, an immediate failure - the detail resolution is far too small. It doesn't account for the printing limitations on small fabric tags, never mind the ability of old fogeys such as myself to be able to squint that hard and actually read them. I have no idea even looking on my screen here what the difference between the first three is supp…

Those labels are printed too small for all intended audiences.

I propose a Moore's law of a label printing density doubling every 18 months (years?).

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#218

Post by benibela »

corrral wrote: post #150
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…

Are people seeing some huge benefits from paying attention to these symbols? I've been, as the kids say, "adulting" for some time, and pay no attention to them. I couldn't draw a single one from memory. If you showed me one, I'd only be able to guess at the meaning. All I do is not wash stuff that says "dry clean only" (it always just says it in text, I have no idea if there even is a symbol for that) and favor coole…

Almost all my pants became too small from washing. Perhaps they would not have when I paid attention to the symbols (or perhaps I became fat?)

Re: Laundry symbols make no sense

#220

Post by philwelch »

themitigating wrote: post #185
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…

Let's say that you have a set of symbols and 30% of the people who view them are able to derive their meaning without research. Why not try to increase that number? What's the downsides excluding the time making the new symbols.

Another downside would be people who know the existing symbols having to learn the new ones.
Post reply on HN