I'm sure design theory says the new ones are better, but the very first one was much clearer for users. Also on the phone I could say "click on the ink with the pen".

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tern 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There is no such "design theory," only schools of design

	▲	crazygringo 24 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		There are basic principles of design -- of balance, emphasis, color, weight, etc. -- that are very much part of a general "design theory". That aren't dependent on any particular school of thought.
	▲	adastra22 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I wish this was better understood.

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robocat 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That icon is pretty terrible. Fountain pens were obsolete 50 years ago and ink in bottles is even more outdated. What's with the shiny spherical bottle? It feels like a hipster icon design to me.

Of course picking a meaningful icon is trés difficult.

If we are given the name and then we learn the icon, then perhaps it doesn't matter too much what the icon is?

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sevensor 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Fountain pens were obsolete 50 years ago and ink in bottles is even more outdated

My friend, you have no idea what you’re missing out on. Even cheap fountain pens can be very good these days, and we are living in a golden age of bottled inks.

	▲	robocat 12 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> My friend, you have no idea what you’re missing out on Being left handed has its advantages, however smearing wet ink over the page as you write doesn't endear one to nibbed pens. And leaked ink truely sucks (although I would guess modern technology is better at avoiding that). Is a fountain pen good for illustration? The very very small amount of writing I do these days is usually mixed words with images/symbols/lines. To me out in the colonies, fountain pen culture appears to be more about either signaling pretentiousness (what is Montblanc) or designer hipsterism. I wonder how many practical engineers use a fountain pen?

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strobe 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

and still in 2026 is wide market of those pens with price ranges ~$2000-$3 and ink chooses where some bottles costs ~$50 for 30-60ml.

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Gigachad 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

On the phone you can now say "Command + space, then search pages"

	▲	dmd 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		For a moment I thought you meant you could say "command space" to Siri on iOS and was prepared to have my mind blown.

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EGreg 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I remember growing up with Apple computers, even the black-and-white Macs were easier to understand than today's nonsense, with its "liquid glass" and hidden modes like scrollbars that suddenly appear.

Kid Pix was for kids. Kids could understand it. Easily.

Macs were easy to use and understand. What happened? Steve Jobs passed away, that's what happened... and everyone stepped up to "make their mark", first of all Jony Ive.

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internet2000 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"Ink? Oh is that what's in the bottle?"

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gumby271 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I like how the new icon forces you to do product placement for Apple devices just to explain it. Tap the icon with the Apple Pencil and rectangle. Just don't convey it using color, that's now completely unpredictable.