We really need some good GUI 21st Century ICONS

[hiwayman]

I was just wondering how many millennials have actually used or ever seen a floppy disc, even the '90s plastic-cased version. It is getting anachronistic to use it for 'Save'. Except that the computer appears to be losing the war on 'paper'work, the folder and file cabinet would also be totally dated.

There is a tendency for icons to be either 'traditional' (the padlock, the levi's pocket, the CD) or completely non-intuitively abstract (the 'stack of pancakes' for options, the 'pepper shaker' for apps)...

Intuitive is very helpful on learning curves, especially those that depend on GUIs.

New icons are needed; and sadly, the only way to keep winaptel from just swiping them is to make them open source in the first place.

The European style road sign is a very good set of examples to follow. (I've seen some brilliant & even hilarious ones for men/women's toilets, for example.)

Linux in general and Mint in particular are the perfect places to inaugurate modern icons, with the variety and experimental nature of the desktop. Before I forget there's another factor, relating to phones; actually scaling- the Mint logo itself doesn't scale down too well, judging by the Firefox toolbar above..

[sphyrth]

The Save icon HAS become traditionally familiar, and I'm frequently tempted to ask the Millenials what it means. And we who were around when floppies were the norm just take it for granted.
I don't know about the other icons, but if I were to suggest a Save Icon, it would be a Folder Icon with an Arrow pointing inside it. Meaning that the Open Icon would be the same, except it has the Arrow pointing out.

[MintBean]

In my personal experience, Icon sets that have tried hard to make everything more generic and 'iconic' make it harder, not easier to pick functions out at a glance. PepperMint OS 7 is an example of this,

[Moem]

I was just wondering how many millennials have actually used or ever seen a floppy disc, even the '90s plastic-cased version. It is getting anachronistic to use it for 'Save'.

Of course. Doesn't mean that it needs to be changed. People can learn that it means 'save' even if they don't know what it depicts. If three lines can mean 'menu', then surely a floppy disc can mean 'save'.

The European style road sign is a very good set of examples to follow. (I've seen some brilliant & even hilarious ones for men/women's toilets, for example.)

Some examples would be welcome, as this is not ringing a bell for this European. Our road signs don't really use a lot of pictograms, as far as I'm aware. And our men/women toilet signs seem to be hopelessly stuck in the 'men wear trousers, women wear skirts' tradition...

[zaileion]

Hey Hey! I second this motion. Enough with the flat icons. how about some space age 3d jazz, or something a little more exciting!! where are the 3d artists? render us some magic!

[ostracized]

Millenials are pushing 30 so there's a good amount of them who were exposed to 3.5 and even 5.25" floppies if their parents were semi-early adopters of the packard bells. My parents went from a packard to a walmart winME box -- so naturally that's when my interest in troubleshooting pc's began.

Ask a Gen-Z'er about what you can do with 1.44MB...they'll just stare back at you.

[chrisuk]

[...]

Ask a Gen-Z'er about what you can do with 1.44MB...they'll just stare back at you.

I'm an old man , but you can fit an entire Operating System on a 1.44mb Floppy:

http://www.menuetos.net/

[austin.texas]

If you can't find icons you like, you just haven't looked very hard.
http://www.deviantart.com/browse/all/?q=icons
https://www.gnome-look.org/search?proje ... Text=icons