Bill DeRouchey asked this question just a few weeks ago and got some pretty authoritative answers. It traces back, most recently, to a harmonized standard that has been given different numbers by ISO and the IEEE.
You can see the comments from industrial designers at http://www.historyofthebutton.com/2007/01/30/printer-icons-design-by-habit/ According to the standards, the two components are a vertical stroke and a circle. When the vertical stroke goes through the top of the circle, the meaning is "standby". Best wishes, Bruce Esrig On 2/27/08, William Evans <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > From electrical engineering. Its a closed circuit. > > will evans > user experience architect > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 617.281.1281 > > > On Feb 27, 2008, at 5:37 PM, "Shaun Bergmann" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > A discussion came up at the office today that got me wondering. > > Do any of you know the history of the 'Power' Icon? You know the > > one: The > > circle with the vertical bar pointing up and overlapping the top > > edge of the > > circle. > > > > This icon was being incorporated into an interface and the argument > > was made > > that "not everybody is going to know what that icon means" > > > > That's totally possible. If anything stands out as a good example of > > the > > statement that there are no intuitive interfaces -- all interfaces are > > learned -- it's this icon. The only reason people are going to know > > that > > it's the power button is because they know it's the power button. > > > > I looked at it's design from a fresh perspective today and really > > have to > > question WHY it's become so prevalent? Visually, it doesn't say > > "power" to > > me. Where'd this thing come from? > > ________________________________________________________________ > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
