The saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words." I've found the exchange rate to be more dynamic. Many ideas are better put with words. Others with images. What I take issue with is the idea that words and images are in competition. Each has its own use case. Contorting an image to do the job of a word demonstrates a lack of communicative ability, and vice-versa.
In case you're near a printer right now, the poster you'll find on this page[1] is taped by my washer and I've found it quite helpful!
[1] https://www.parkersdrycleaners.com/2011/05/care-label-tags/
Note: No endorsement of, or affiliation with Parker's Dry Cleaners.
Re:The Dilemma of Icons
by makeitdouble on Thursday August 24, 2023 @07:32PM
(#37255924)
Washing instructions are internationally standardized though, and if you really wanted to you'd look them on your phone.
I don't want a hippy brand to write a 50 lines poem instead. Nor do I want "woogie boogie wash only" jargonning that felt cute to the copy righter, nor do I want to try to understand the Indian instructions.
Re:The Dilemma of Icons
by WalterBright on Thursday August 24, 2023 @08:08PM
(#37256170)
English is the official language of India.
My personal pet peeve are washing instruction icons. Yes it is a simple easy to learn consistent system. None of which helps me when I am at the machine trying to decide what the hell this squiggle is trying to tell me. If I were smarter I would tape a decode sheet to my machine.
the koan is.
A picture is worth 10K words -- but only those to describe the picture. Hardly any sets of 10K words can be adequately described with pictures.