[QUOTE=Colophon]
I’ve always thought it’s ridiculously archaic… a symbol depicting the sort of camera that your grandfather might have used to take a family portrait with a sheet over his head!
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The speed camera signs here show a front view of a reasonably-contermporary camera, as it might be if it were taking a picture of you.
[QUOTE=racer72]
For many years after auto companies switched from generators to alternators, General Motors cars still used idiot lights that said “generator”. The oldest GM car I owned that had a generator light was an 81 Monte Carlo.
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My fuel injected car has a carburettor light on the dash.
[QUOTE=Sunspace]
The speed camera signs here show a front view of a reasonably-contermporary camera, as it might be if it were taking a picture of you.
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Swedish roadsign for speedcamera or perhaps a rocket ship.
[QUOTE=Juggler]
Swedish roadsign for speedcamera or perhaps a rocket ship.
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Or “Your mailbox is falling over”…
The floppy disk will long outlast the telephone ring (as in a bell), which will die out in 5-10 years. I wonder why this sign has kids carrying books leather-belt style
[QUOTE=Threadkiller]
How long will it take Windows to change the ‘Please wait I’m thinking’ to something other than an hourglass?
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Vista (urgh, but it came with my laptop) has a little spinny blue circle like the one in the IE used for “Hang on I’m loading your page”.
[QUOTE=e-logic]
It’s interesting that there are so many “icons” in everyday life - e.g. speed cameras and train warnings - that are clearly archaic, yet seem to serve their purpose perfectly.
I wander what the deciding factor is - I’d never really considered the speed camera icon as archaic, but it is indeed a bizarre design for a digital imaging device!
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I’d say it’s because technology has moved away from mechanical devices with distinctive parts as distinguishing features towards slimline electronic objects with no moving parts. A ‘bellows’ type camera is quite unique in its look, while a modern camera looks like a a discreet high-tech box.
[QUOTE=Staggerlee]
I’d say it’s because technology has moved away from mechanical devices with distinctive parts as distinguishing features towards slimline electronic objects with no moving parts. A ‘bellows’ type camera is quite unique in its look, while a modern camera looks like a a discreet high-tech box.
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But other countries manage to come up with a picture that is recognisably a modern camera. True, it doesn’t look like a speed camera. I wonder why they don’t use a picture of a GATSO type camera, as they’re easily recognisable.
[QUOTE=Colophon]
But other countries manage to come up with a picture that is recognisably a modern camera. True, it doesn’t look like a speed camera. I wonder why they don’t use a picture of a GATSO type camera, as they’re easily recognisable.
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I do agree; maybe then it is a matter of old-fashioned signifiers being so eccentric as to be more noticeable than their modern counterparts. For example, the handshank from the middle ages used for clutching at straws… oh…