Save icon -- floppy disk (outdated? or impossible to replace?)

[Darren Dirt]

http://branch.com/b/redesigning-the-save-symbol-let-s-do-this

^ in 2013 a bunch of designers idea-jammed and in the end didn't really come up with anything that totally screams "YES! Perfect replacement!"

Fascinating.

Found via http://jamesreggers.com/2013/04/05/redesigning-the-save-button-is-the-wrong-approach/ -- which pointed out we are getting used to the idea that you don't have to MANUALLY "save" in most apps, the apps should do it for you and let you review/recover from previous snapshots in time etc.

Deep Thoughts though. Who knew a simple action/visual could lead to such heated debate...



Heck, 2 years previous there was a suggestion of a particular baseball metaphor -- home plate (!)


PS: a follow-up to that (2013) debate/discussion:
http://connortomas.com/2013/04/in-defence-of-the-floppy-disk-save-symbol/

Those who believe that the floppy cannot represent saving a document because nobody uses real floppy disks anymore miss an important point: while symbols initially piggyback on the meaning we assigned to a material object in order to stand in for something more abstract, once a symbol is used often enough, the symbol itself is enough to carry meaning, and the material object is no longer important. (You could think of the physical object upon which a symbol is based as a kind of scaffolding). This is how all symbols operate, by the way. Once any symbol enters a culture?s visual language, the physical object it was initially based upon is no longer really relevant.

/mic drop



Also found this further reading on the subject of icons in general http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/10/the-ever-evolving-arrow-universal-control-symbol.php

Simple stuff we don't often think about = not all that simple, actually.