Copy this Floppy
It’s no kind of solution to reinvent things that work. In other words, design less—because the alternative would be bad design.
Paul and I have discussed releasing a DLB icon pack in the near future, so I’ve been thinking a lot about icons lately. It’s interesting to consider the conventions of icon design, which, in some cases, haven’t changed much in 25 years (at least). In particular, I’ve pondered over the icon for “save” which, in most cases, is represented by a 3.5” floppy disk (most prominently, in Microsoft Office).
When you first think about it, it seems to violate the UI metaphor principle. I mean, the save-floppy represents something that barely anyone uses today. Children born ten years ago have probably never handled a floppy disk. Not to mention all those born later and yet to be born. It may as well be a picture of an 8-track tape.
I’m not the first person to ponder this question, but I’ve yet to see a satisfactory replacement.
One alternative I’ve seen, the “piece of paper into the folder” save icon, doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. There are too many folders and pieces of paper in our interfaces already. It just gets lost up there.
I don’t think updating the icon to something newer, say by making an icon of a keydrive, is any kind of a solution, either. Saving is a universal function. Why tie it to yet another, soon-to-be-obsolete technology?
More importantly, a keydrive wouldn’t read as well graphically. Shape-wise, they’re basically sticks; they’d probably fail the Groening test. Moreover, they aren’t nearly as standardized as other storage media. These days, anything with a male USB port is potentially a storage device.
When it comes to graphic legibility, the floppy disk is hard to beat. It doesn’t need any perspective cues as the real thing is almost two-dimensional already. Lots of nice crisp 90-degree lines, too. It’s really quite a good shape, especially at very small sizes.
Maybe that’s why it continues to survive? Perhaps it doesn’t matter. At this point, it’s not logical, it’s convention. Design-ego and UI principles be damned.
I think that’s the lesson here: it’s no kind of solution to reinvent things that work. In other words, design less—because the alternative would be bad design.
The save-disk icon is an intriguing case study because it has progressed beyond metaphor and now retains its legibility through familiarity. Just as the letter “A” evolved from a picture of a steer, maybe someday the symbol will become even more abstract until it barely resembles a disk at all.
I’m going to play with this idea a bit and see what I come up with…
