@Wolf480pl @rysiek

I'm sure they are an attempt to be useful, but, for example, what does a triangle shape have to do with bleach?

The washtub and the iron symbols clearly indicate their goal.

What significance is a circle in connection with dry cleaning?

@Algot @rysiek
What does a red circle with horizontal white bar on a "no entry" sign have to do with prohibiting entry?
What does an S shape have to do with the consonant 's' ?
It's just a convention. People agreed that this arbitrary symbol will mean that thing.

@Wolf480pl @rysiek

In this case, I was motivated to think about this by an ad.

The pitchman pointed to the symbol attached here and said it meant "Do not bleach". It didn't ring any bells in my head. I looked it up. Of course, I was bothered that the symbol did not mean "Do not bleach". Instead it meant "use color safe bleach when needed".

Clearly there's a failure to communicate.

@Wolf480pl @rysiek

I generally appreciate pictograms, and often they really do their jobs well. It's just that these seem significantly arbitrary, unlike the pedestrian symbol I use all the time.

I do appreciate the effort some group has made to provide these for the cleaning industry. It just bothered me that a pro misused them so blatantly.

@Algot @Wolf480pl dunno man, wikipedia seems pretty useful as a way of figuring what the signs mean.

But you can also design better ones. :)

@rysiek @Wolf480pl

Unfortunately, I don't have Wikipedia accessible beside my washer and drier. 😁

(Well, that's not true these days with a mobile phone in my pocket all day.)

@Wolf480pl @rysiek

To a professional, they might be memorable, but to the average homemaker...maybe not.