this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2026
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Yes, the more generic the icons become the harder they are to tell apart at a glance.
I have never seen an ink pot in my entire life lol
I only know what it is because of the context. It's the floppy disk save icon but for something even more archaic.
A pencil icon makes sense for a writing application, I don't think it's generic at all
You are missing the point. You need to be able to tell what it is in context with the icons next to it quickly. How archaic you think it is doesn’t matter.
But how is an ink pot more recognizable than a pencil? What is ambiguous about the first icon? It's not like it's an abstract representation of one
You are trolling right? The orange gradient pencil shape is extremely abstract, even compared to the older icons right next to it. But the point here is that distinct shapes are easier to tell apart than rounded squares with similar simple lines.
An orange cylinder with a tapered yellow/tan end? Yeah that looks like a cartoon pencil. I can tell that every other icon uses an ink pen, too.
You are considering it within a set of icons and I'm only judging it on its own. If every other iPhone app looks the same then yeah I get it
I think the ink pot is the best picture of the bunch but I only look at icons when they're tiny and don't prefer when they're super detailed like that
One is a line and one is a unique shape. I've also never seen an ink pot, but that silhouette is one that is distinct. Looking at the two icons leads down two different recognition paths:
this is a line, what things do I know that are lines? There's a lot. What could this line be telling me that it does? There's a lot.
wtf is that shape? There are very few things it could be. What does this shape mean? Dunno, but I'm certain I won't confuse it with something else.
So you see the first image and DON'T immediately recognize it as a pencil? You see it aa an abstract line?
If I look directly at it and only it, I see a pencil and its shadow. If my eyes are quickly scanning a line of similar icons, I see a diagonal line and a horizontal line.