We reached the point (some time ago) where the save icon being a floppy disk makes absolutely no sense to anyone born after a certain time. We could choose a more modern media format and use an icon of that instead, but we would run into the same problem once that media becomes obsolete.

What is a good icon for the function of saving something that can easily be understood by anyone regardless of language or the march of time?

Edit: I know it’s not really an answerable question and is hard but the question is what would you come up with if tasks to design an icon. Given the constraints of the question, what are your best shots at coming up with something that fills the requirements and why do you thing it would work?

  • stinky@redlemmy.comEnglish
    41·
    24 hours ago

    Two types:

    1. “Save state” like in video games or word processors
    • For saving state in current application
    • There is hard disc / cloud saving
    1. “Save file” like in web browsers
    • This is for creating a copy of a file you found and want to keep
    • There is hard disc / cloud saving

    In both cases you will want to signify saving to disc (this could look like a thick round disc) versus saving to the cloud

    • hornywarthogfart@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      1·
      21 hours ago

      This would work for the foreseeable future I think. At some point tech changes and although we could just update the icon as that happens I’m wondering if we can design something that is at least resistant to becoming obsolete (like a floppy or even hdd/ssd) and is mostly recognizable to most people. It’s an impossible question but there could be some cool ideas that come up out of this post.