My war with graphics, and graphics’ war with me
I’ve written before about my problem with cartoons.
But I have a similar problem with graphics. The other day while working on the new blog site I noticed that my dashboard was one of those streamlined things so popular today—mostly because of the popularity of cellphones—where little symbols have totally replaced words. The dashboard has at least twenty symbols running along the side, and they all are about the same size and give few clues as to what they mean, which (for me, at least) makes it hard to differentiate among them.
The graphics for “links” and “comments” are so ubiquitous—a chain for links, and a sort of cartoon bubble for comments—that even I, with my graphics dyslexia, know what they mean. But the rest are not the least bit intuitive and I have no interest in learning them. What’s wrong with words, good old-fashioned words?
Luckily, there’s a way to make the words reappear on the dashboard. But of course, in order to do that you have to search the symbols-only version and find it. It’s a tiny little triangle/arrow at the bottom, and once you click on it up spring the missing words and all’s well. But the default position is now the graphics one.
Perhaps I’m revealing my advanced age by saying all of this. But I also sometimes have a problem with the graphics on containers. You know, the things that tell you how to open them. Sometimes words are even included and it still can be confusing.
For example, I was making a smoothie today. I always put frozen fruit in them and then blend the whole thing up. Today I was opening a large new package of frozen fruit and encountered this graphic. I only took the photo after I had opened it, so the little tear there makes it obvious how it’s done. But try to imagine it without the tear to guide you; try to imagine the oval with the arrow is whole. What would you do?
I’ll tell you what I did. I assumed that the arrow pointed to something below the oval. Perhaps that little thing that looked like a string, that might be sort of embedded in the packaging and that you need to pull? I’ve encountered packaging like that before. But no, the string stubbornly defied my best efforts to pry it loose.
Perhaps that’s because it wasn’t a string, but a drawing of a cherry stem, cleverly placed to fool the graphically challenged like me.
It turns out that the thing to pull was a hidden tab above the arrow—yes, above the arrow that pointed down. The arrow apparently meant “look above this arrow that’s pointing down and pull the thing above the arrow down.”
Now I ask you, does that make sense?
I’ve been saying for quite a while that companies should have a board of grandmothers to advise them on new products. Too many “new” things are too complicated or totally unnecessary. The whole world is getting more complicated, and all the time-saving things they come up with waste far more time than I have. I’d rather read neo.
Doesn’t make sense and it happened to #metoo.
Usually I just grab some kitchen scissors lately.
Maybe Jordan Peterson can help. 😉
I wanted to add that it is usually ME putting together the kids this or that toy/bike/playset/swingset and things have gotten better over the years but it used to be a nightmare and take an engineering degree laying all the pieces out and identifying what goes where because the instructions were so useless.
And why am I always stuck with it? It is sexism I tell you! 🙂
The label can be interpreted as:
PULL (THE INDICATED THING) TO OPEN
or
PULL (IN THE INDICATED DIRECTION) TO OPEN
The second interpretation was clearly predominant in the designer’s mind. But is the arrow a pronoun or an adverb? Either interpretation is equally justifiable. Sort of like Rubin’s vase.
Baklava “stole” my solution, no patience for this grab some sissors , transfer the leftovers to a zip lock bag.
Given the fascist “DO NOT CUT BAG, USE PULL TAB” warning, my only ethical choice would be to get a pair of scissors and cut the bag open.
TomR Says:
January 25th, 2018 at 8:11 pm
The label can be interpreted as:
PULL (THE INDICATED THING) TO OPEN
or
PULL (IN THE INDICATED DIRECTION) TO OPEN
The second interpretation was clearly predominant in the designer’s mind. But is the arrow a pronoun or an adverb? Either interpretation is equally justifiable. Sort of like Rubin’s vase.
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But who knows how the designers were justifying it?
Or if they even bothered. Designers are always right.
Because they have l33t skilz.
And nobody asks Grandma anything anymore, because she won’t buy any of this new stuff and she’s going to die soon anyway.
At least it isn’t the mattress police and their tags…
Symbols replace words, because that’s the way the grey beings with big saucer eyes design things.
Sorry off topic.
Seems that Canadian laws are all the rage these days.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/quebecs-law-on-facial-veils-fuels-fierce-debate-1516876200
In professional web design, symbols with no words, or words that only pop up when you mouse over a symbol, is called “mystery meat navigation” and is (used to be?) considered a no-no and an amateur move.
If it’s any comfort, I’d have read those directions just as you did. And then there are the ones that taunt you, “Easy Open!” These days, if things like that don’t cooperate on the first try, I just cut them open with kitchen scissors and seal them back up with a twist tie or rubber band that doesn’t require instructions. Life’s too short.
And as for symbols instead of words, consider the care tags on clothing, with cryptic little triangles and wavy lines that carry no intrinsic meaning at all. I have been driven to Googling them sometimes — and just try Googling a symbol! What’s worse, even words don’t always help. Consider those boxes that instruct, “Press Along Perforations,” when all the pressing I can muster just collapses the box. Hmph.
And get off my lawn!
This is why User Experience (UX) design is so important and difficult, and why those that are good at it are in great demand.
My anecdotal evidence indicates that the people that encounter the sort of issue Neo describes tend to be the, um, older set (of which I am one). Thus the problem of individuals not understanding the UX instructions will, over time, take care of itself.
Like a few of you have mentioned or advised, I am a member of the set that always has scissors and box cutter handy.
With program updates, I look for the “classic view” option in order to get work completed and then take my time “exploring” the new options.
Yesterday, I actually went into an online chat with a company to offer some feedback on their updated version of a personal money management program. Their improvements tend to the visual impact as well as ease for using with a phone or tablet. I suggested changes to improve actual performance & reporting.
I don’t expect them to make the changes, but as an accountant, I can understand and work around the small glitches.
Wow – I like the new option to edit a comment. Even with careful typing & preview, I usually find a typo after I hit the post button.
Thanks Neo!
I can see how that bag is meant to be opened and resealed by that graphic. But, I’m an extremely visual person.
My husband is not. Something I have enormous difficulty understanding. So your writing about being perplexed by graphics gives me perspective about what that is like.
Mrs Whatsit Says:
January 26th, 2018 at 5:55 am
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I feel your pain.
You can’t find the individual symbols on Google, but you can get a list of the “laundry codes” and tape it to your washer or dryer, as I did. This is pretty good, and I think mostly complete.
https://www.omo.com/za/laundry/laundry-tips/fabrics/wash-care-symbols.html
In Therapy, I learned to communicate with my packages, instead of resorting to scissor hands. Here’s how.
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world’s writing systems.
Unicode has created a standard for emoticons. The URL is https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1F600.pdf
With a little practice, anyone can learn to use text to speak graphically. I’m no longer at a loss for words.
My DH was perplexed by the meaning of the little hearts I scribble at the end of handwritten notes to him. Really:-D
Thanks, AesopFan! I’m getting out the tape.
But upon perusing the list of symbol explanations, I’ve got to say, no wonder I couldn’t figure them out without a cheat sheet! For example:
After explaining that the symbol for dry cleaning is a circle, the list explains, “For clothes that are dry clean only, the circle has a letter ‘P’ inside it.”
The next one says: “The clothes that should be dry-cleaned under normal conditions will have a letter ‘F’ inside the circle.”
I can handle the circle, but why on earth P’s and F’s? And, for that matter, what are the abnormal conditions under which dry-clean-only clothing doesn’t have to be dry-cleaned?
Nevertheless, I’m posting the list in the laundry room.
I’m so glad that I’m now retired and wear sweatpants and t-shirts.
A more complete list of laundry symbols can be found at http://www.textileaffairs.com/c-common.htm or even better at http://www.textileaffairs.com/hirez.htm
(I want one that says hand wash in 95C water using bleach and do not dry in the shade.)