Pause icon design

by The Real Edward Gentry 5 Replies latest jw friends

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  The Real Edward Gentry

  Hello: Back in the 60's, I knew a designer for the Ampex Corporation. One day, F. Arden Farey, the manager of industrial design gave him the task to create an icon for pause since the company was marketing in foreign markets and the word "pause" didn't translate well in most foreign languages. He looked at pause and finally decided that it was a "sorta" stop. After generating concepts, my friend decided to use the square of stop and break it up or interrupt the box. A horizontal line would have given an "equals" symbol and other designs wouldn't work well as small graphic symbols. So, the vertical was decided upon for its ease of reading but also it created what he called a "stutter stop" symbol. So, although he was Japanese American, there is no esoteric or Zen meaning, just straight forward design problem solving.
  My friend was employed at Ampex in Elk Grove Village, IL from 1964 to 1971, in the consumer products division on Landmier Road and Estes Ave.

  He was not a Jehovah's Witness.
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  Old Navy

  Ampex was a big name in tape recorders and magnetic tape back in those days. Very interesting story. The symbols stuck.
  
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  Old Navy

  Your story brought to mind the first tape recorder experience I participated in. I belonged to the Cub Scout Wolf Pack at Arthur Elementary School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Our weekly Cub Scout meetings were held at the home of Doctor Boyson which was four blocks from the school building. One afternoon at our meeting the Doctor's wife (our Den Mother) brought out a suitcase sized machine which had the two magnetic tape spools, one of those "green glow tuning eye" volume indicators, a built in amplifier and speaker and a small square microphone. She demonstrated the machine and recorded our voices and played them back for us. It was pure magic! This was the event which triggered a life-long fascination with things electronic and an adult career much later in electronics technology. The year was 1948 and I was seven years old. Back in those days many of my classmates used to bring "war souvenirs" to school; guns, swords and knives mostly that were brought back from the war by their fathers or relatives. My how times have changed!
  
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  stuckinarut2

  Ok...thanks..but...what is the relevance of this topic?

  Have I missed something??
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  2+2=5

  Ok...thanks..but...what is the relevance of this topic?

  Have I missed something??

  The topic has given you pause.

  I've gleamed a valuable lesson about the success not being a JW can bring.
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  Stealth

  While practicing number flash cards with my 5 yo grandson.... I got to the number eleven and his response was:

  "Pause"