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Forum URL: http://www.eyrie-productions.com/Forum/dcboard.cgi
Forum Name: Annotations
Topic ID: 83
Message ID: 10
#10, international iconography in the 24th century
Posted by Gryphon on May-21-10 at 06:27 PM
In response to message #0
In this part of Star-Crossed I mentioned that deep space waystations like Zelfina (where we see Zaeed enjoying coffee, pie, and healing accelerants) are marked with enormous holographics signs announcing the availability of the Cosmic Trinity - fuel, food, and repair services.

However, I was remiss in not actually depicting what those signs look like - although, with the possible exception of the repair one, you've seen them before if you've spent any time traveling on an American Interstate highway.

And yes, if you're thinking that these are extremely anchronistic, you are correct! But then, they are today. When was the last time you saw a gas pump that looked like that? And yet they're still shown that way on the signs, and everyone knows what they're supposed to be; the icon has been around for so long that it's transcended its original meaning and simply become an abstract thing that people recognize to mean "fuel". And so it is in UF's Future.

(For a similar real-world example, take a look at the oil pressure warning light in an average car. Chances are, if it doesn't just say OIL, it'll have an icon on it which depicts an old-timey steam-age oil can, of the kind you pretty much never see any more, and certainly aren't likely to encounter in an automotive context any time soon.)

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
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