Anybody know where those came from originally? I mean the triangle for play, the square for stop, red circle for record, etc. They seem pretty standardized these days, so who came up with them instead of just printing “play,” “stop,” etc.?
I don’t know where they came from originally, but I wanted to point out that the symbols you refer to easily predate VCRs. I’ve seen them on the controls of 60s and 70s audio recorders, both reel-to-reel and cassette.
Dude, that’s not a triangle, it’s an arrow – an arrow poinitng forward (i.e., left to right). Obviously, it means “go.” Two arrows therefore mean “go twice as fast,” and two arrows pointing the other way means “go backward, quickly.” Continuing the geometric shape motif, we have a square and a circle. Which, to you, says “go”? Which says “stop”? So the square stops the tape, and the circle says “go” – but we already have a “go,” don’t we? The arrow? Yes, so this is the other “go” – record. And it’s red, as a warning – don’t record over your taped material.
I don’t know who invented these symbols – the first time I saw them was on a Japanese tape recorder, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a Japanese company came up with it, as a compromise people who don’t even share an alphabet.