Breeze icons still use the outdated floppy disk icon – to many people, unlike me, who didn’t grow up in the ‘80s this will not be familiar. The open icon is also a manila folder which does not clearly indicate opening.
I therefore propose the following replacement icons as timeless alternatives.
Save icon:
The save icon is an arrow pointing downwards into a closing box. The arrow is green to indicate a constructive action.
I agree that the floppy disk is a relic that younger people cannot understand.
Your idea with the arrows seems good.
The problem is the box, which does not clearly convey the idea of recording.
Perhaps a disc with a green arrow pointing outwards to the right, or a blue arrow pointing inwards from the left, would be clearer to express the actions save (to disk) and open (from disk)
Boxes are containers used to store things. Real world boxes aren’t going anywhere and more obvious to the layman IMO than a disc.
Computer storage will also no-longer resemble discs with the advent of solid-state storage. That said, there would indeed be an analogy with the standard red record icon or flowchart database icon being circular.
The only thing that has remained the same over the years is that data is still stored on small black chips and that there is something like a display or monitor that we humans look at.
So here’s my suggestion with a chip that I quickly put together.
In the abstract, I really like these icons. There are two problems, unfortunately:
They look a lot like “upload” and “download” icons, which these days are upward and downward-facing arrows coming out of or going into a box or line
The floppy disk icon is so ubiquitous that even if a new icon comes along that’s better, many people will fail to understand it because their brains have been trained to look for a floppy disk icon (even if they’ve never seen an actual floppy disk lol). I have a distinct memory of Apple trying a skeumorphic version of this exact iconography that you’re proposing back in the early 2000s, for exactly the same reason. They ended up backtracking.
Download is a very similar concept to save, so it might be expected that the icons would be similar. Perhaps the download and upload icons could also be changed to something similar such as the following so that they indicate that they are from/to a remote source/destination:
As for your second point, I think as time goes on the floppy disk is only going to look even more out of date. Users have adapted to changes as user interfaces evolve. Indeed, the save icon I proposed is very similar to similar changes already made such as in Gnome and Inkscape - there seems to be some momentum to changing save to some kind of down arrow. The difference in what I am proposing is that I am trying to make save and open directly analogous to each other by resembling a box closing and opening, and not have the same unobvious and unrelated folder-open icon for open.
Some save and open icons from Gnome and Inkscape for reference:
I disagree that it wouldn’t be familiar, using a floppy disk as a save icon is so ubiquitous that it’s arguably become better known as the save icon than the storage medium. Young people still recognise the floppy disk, they just recognise it as an abstract idea of saving instead of the physical act of writing data to a floppy disk it used to represent
as save is more “timeless” than any replacement ever could be.
Just look at this utility bar from a program I clipped out of context:
You probably don’t know what this program is or does, but that doesn’t matter: you already know how to save in it.
Hypothetically, if I weren’t already familiar with concepts like bold and italic text, what exactly is that “B” icon supposed to mean to me? The “I” one kinda looks like the mouse indicator for setting a new typing location, does that find or select text? The chain link icon is especially egregious in this regard; I could never expect an unfamiliar user to arrive at the conclusion that it inserts a link (what’s a link?), but for a familiar user it’s very obvious in its context.
None of this phases me as a fairly tech proficient user, but anyone who didn’t already know still doesn’t know just from looking at them. They’ve gotta click things and find out, or learn about tooltips existing. I argue the effort expended to learn may as well be identical across iconography, but you already have most users recognising the icon, so why change it? People who get it still get it, people who don’t get it were going to have to learn anyway, and they may as well learn this one in its nigh-universal form.
Your suggestion isn’t bad. And your reason for drawing new save and load icons is sound.
However, I would consider that the floppy disk does the job better than new icons would.
A handset icon still represents Phone call functionality on your cell phone. Most children today have NEVER operated a dedicated handset.
A letter envelope icon still represents Messaging, even though most young people have never sent snail mail.
A clock icon still represents time. Even though (astonishingly) there are young people that actually cannot properly read time on a clock that uses hands.
They KNOW what these things mean, even if they don’t know about the object that inspired the creation of the Icon.
The floppy disk is probably more important—and better known—now as an abstract concept than it ever was during the height of its actual use.
I say publish your icons if this is truly critical to you.
But stick with what works.
UI design is about simplicity, ease-of-use, and consistency.
(We shouldn’t even be using QWERTY keyboards anymore. The letter arrangement was designed to preserve old typewriter hardware, iirc. But here we are.)
my thoughts sorta eco mario_lawrence above who worded it better than i ever could. maybe i’m bias since i’m only 35 and grew up using floppies but i agree its sorta timeless already in its current use.
a disc or cartridge based gaming system didn’t have a floppy drive the way an old PC would have back when i was a kid in the 90s , but aLot of games still use the floppy or a similar shape to denote saving for the very reason its just easily identifyable and know to be used for it, my neice and newphews understand this just fine even tho they’ve never seen a floppy disc in person far as i’m aware having been born in the late 00s or after. same can be said for a cd/disc symbol for things loading , a spinning disc still makes sense even tho at this point alot of PCs don’t have an optical drive and recent consoles are using digital downloads instead. at the end of the day its just an inherent understanding ppl have gotten used to over the years.
that said i Do think your points are a valid one to make cause its definately food for thought as time goes on , i just don’t think i agree that change is needed. and while i think your suggested design would apply just as well i’m more in agreement with ngraham that it looks more akin to a upload/download icon and i’d likely mistake it for that
i could see this. only thing is i’m not 100% on how readable i think these icons are. maybe utilising arrows with a 90 degree turn to minimise white space might work, or maybe swapping the container would make it more obvious, but it’s a tiny bit hard to tell in this concept what it is without context
as save is more “timeless” than any replacement ever could be.
icon, so why change it? People who get it still get it, people who don’t get it were going to have to learn anyway, and they may as well learn this one in its nigh-universal form.
still represents Phone call functionality on your cell phone. Most children today have NEVER operated a dedicated handset.
still represents Messaging, even though most young people have never sent snail mail.
still represents time. Even though (astonishingly) there are young people that actually cannot properly read time on a clock that uses hands.