11/06/07 10:26 - 39ºF - ID#42017

What color is the past?

I have to design a computer icon for "Undo". I'm making an arrow facing left, since in western culture (if that even exists any more), we think of things that face that way as looking backward. But what color? Red is no good; it just means stop; or alert, or something. Blue is mysterious but it doesn't signify time in any way. Green is good because it means go forward, and technically, red is the opposite of green, but as said above red is no good.
Arggh! Yellow?

metalpeter writes at 05:23:55 11/07/07 - Comment #27663: I know this sounds like a stupid answer but from what I have seen on computers most of the icons are the same color. I myself like it that way cause when different functions are different colors it makes things stand out and somethings not and I believe that makes some functions harder to find but that is just me.

empireoflight writes at 10:56:00 11/07/07 - Comment #27645: Yeah, basically "Oh shit I left my Queen hanging"

carolinian writes at 10:33:42 11/07/07 - Comment #27644: Is the undo basically a "I want to take back that move I just made" feature?

zobar writes at 10:07:18 11/07/07 - Comment #27638: I think I prefer the Gnome icons in general, but the KDE package is nice because it has a few different sets to choose from, including Locolor for limited devices. Have a look for 'kdeartwork'.

- Z

empireoflight writes at 09:54:48 11/07/07 - Comment #27637: It's for Open Chess 3.0, a free Palm OS chess application. I would imagine chess geeks will use it a lot-it gets around 100 downloads a day. I'm building it in 4 sizes (1-bit at 9x9, 8-bit at 9x9, 12x12, 18x18) along with about 20 others. The palette is atrocious. I think I'm going with a purple after much consideration. I checked those Gnome icons and the undo looks like a good reference-thanks for the link! The KDE link didn't work...

carolinian writes at 08:53:52 11/07/07 - Comment #27626: For me to give my input, I need to know more about the situation (first rule of HCI: know your terrain)

Is this an application running on a computer, or is it a web application (or something entirely different from any of these)?

Who will be the target users of said application/service using the icon?

How often will the target users use this software? Once in their lives or nine hours a day five days a week?

Are there any size restrictions? (e.g. is the icon for something on a tiny cell phone or a desktop with a 32" screen?)

If this is a computer application, will it be multi-platform or single platform?

What are the lighting conditions for the application using the icon? Will they have to see the icon in a very dark room or will they struggle to see it in extremely bright sunlight?

zobar writes at 07:41:55 11/07/07 - Comment #27623: You can download icon sets from both the Gnome and KDE projects that can save development time, whether you use Gnome/KDE or not.

:::link:::
:::link:::

Gnome uses a pale yellow arrow, flipped over itself and pointing to the left. KDE uses a blue arrow, flipped over itself and pointing to the left.

- Z

drew writes at 11:51:32 11/06/07 - Comment #27616: I would go for pink, like the eraser on a pencil.

Or white (light blue?) like soap.

And I would make it an arced arrow to the left.

empireoflight writes at 11:09:59 11/06/07 - Comment #27612: "Undo" is us reacting to the past, like we need to fix something. Grayscale is like set in stone, this is what happened, don't bother changing. Maybe I was wrong about blue; our blood cells are blue when they have given up their oxygen. Maybe blue means "fix me!!!"

paul writes at 10:41:56 11/06/07 - Comment #27611: Maybe colors are too strong for something previously discarded. Maybe grayscale. Seems like that is definitely past, ghosts are grayish, black and white photos, B&W TV.