The evolution of the On/Off power switch symbol (2008)

No, the one-inside-a-circle symbol does <i>not</i> indicate a toggle between off and on, as this article &quot;surmises&quot;.<p>Instead, it indicates <i>stands by</i>. This is off, but not fully off as a circle would suggest. It&#x27;s nearly on. The symbol is great for that.<p>On a push button it means activate stand by or come back out of it (i.e., turn back on fully). Still fair enough.<p>Unfortunately, this knowledge has watered down over time. I&#x27;ve seen that symbol used more than once for a button that <i>only</i> turns on a device (never back to stand by). That&#x27;s pretty much the opposite of its original meaning.

The 1&#x2F;0 thing confused me for a while because 0 looks like a circuit (on), and 1 doesn&#x27;t (0ff). I was also taking electrical engineering classes at the time, and the 1&#x2F;0 true&#x2F;false thing was already halfway arbitrary because of active-low pins, and even in software land, &quot;return 0&quot; could mean either true or false depending on the context.

And it is now in Unicode thanks (in part) to HN.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;unicodepowersymbol.com&#x2F;we-did-it-how-a-comment-on-hackernews-lead-to-4-%c2%bd-new-unicode-characters&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;unicodepowersymbol.com&#x2F;we-did-it-how-a-comment-on-ha...</a>

There is an exhibit right now at the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum in NYC about the work of Henry Dreyfuss did with his Symbol Sourcebook (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cooperhewitt.org&#x2F;channel&#x2F;give-me-a-sign&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cooperhewitt.org&#x2F;channel&#x2F;give-me-a-sign&#x2F;</a>) which heavily influenced the design of most symbols we use today, including this one.<p>You can view most of the exhibit online: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;collection.cooperhewitt.org&#x2F;exhibitions&#x2F;2318807647&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;collection.cooperhewitt.org&#x2F;exhibitions&#x2F;2318807647&#x2F;</a><p>Worth taking a look!

There are other, sometimes contradictory conventions.<p>In the USA, a standard wall switch is moved &quot;up&quot; for on and &quot;down&quot; for off whereas in Europe it&#x27;s the opposite. Always wondered how that came to be.

I&#x27;ve noticed that lots of appliances now use the On&#x2F;Off power symbol to mean start&#x2F;stop the appliance, <i>not</i> cutting off power.<p>Stuff like coffee makers etc. It&#x27;s weird.

The one I REALLY HATE is the paper orientation icon on printer paper trays. Ones like these:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;static.thenounproject.com&#x2F;png&#x2F;4256363-200.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;static.thenounproject.com&#x2F;png&#x2F;4256363-200.png</a><p>Do the lines on the paper mean<p>&quot;insert the side that already has writing face up, and the side that is blank face down&quot;<p>OR<p>&quot;these lines represent what will happen after you print but they&#x27;re just being represented here for your imagination purposes even though they aren&#x27;t there yet so you should really put the blank side up even though we are drawing lines on the up side&quot;

No discussion about use of 0&#x2F;1 for power switches is complete without mention of the original IBM 5150 (original PC) power switch, which is the first place I ever remember seeing the &quot;binary&quot; 0&#x2F;1 used to mean &quot;power on &#x2F; power off&quot; on electronics.

We should probably add a (2008) to the submission title on this.

There are challenges inherent in creating a set of visual symbols to communicate. We have crossed that bridge before and we call them &quot;words&quot;.<p>I wish designers might fall back on that more for ease of use instead of creating generation after generation of arcane, fleetingly extant symbols.

This button instills in me a profound sense of joy. Throughout my life, the press of this button has unveiled curiosity, learning, and wonder.

The bus I take to work has their air vents labeled backwards ⭘ for on&#x2F;open ⏽ for off&#x2F;shut

I always thought it was a bad visual metaphor for open vs closed circuit

Am I the only one who can still never remember which one is which?

Got through all of them... definitly an 80s born... XD

Tldr: the author failed to read the wiki article explaining what the power symbols mean