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Is the Finder Icon, Iconic?

Do you view the Finder.app icon as Iconic?

  • Yes

    Votes: 37 97.4%

  • No

    Votes: 1 2.6%
  • Total voters
    38
Omega Mac

Omega Mac

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Is it literally the FACE of the Mac?

1768246871612-png.2595370


Even the finder icon is used as the avatar for the macOS forum.

In design and branding terms it would be classed as an Iconic logo, and thus an incredibly valuable asset.

However some do not agree, and feel arbitrary changes to such icons are justified in the universalisation of iOS ui's foibles across all Apple platforms (exemplified by Tahoe) - maybe you feel that way, or maybe you disagree strongly.

Post your vote accordingly, and comment as you wish.
 
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I really like the Finder icon, but I feel Apple has had a tricky relationship with it (or more specifically, in times gone by).

If we forget about MultiFinder and think about why the icon was developed later on, it served the dual purpose of being both a GUI element as well as branding for retail packaging, where the product's platform was displayed. Thus, as you say, it was intended to be iconic.

But even this setup wasn't exactly intuitive, because Finder isn't the Mac and the Mac isn't Finder: so why use the icon to represent both a piece of software and a platform? I guess it was convenient for Apple since Finder was unique to the Mac, and back then it represented a major difference between Mac and Windows, not just in appearance but in functionality and the way you operated the computer.

Of course, today there is a greater blurring of lines between Mac and Windows and, whilst I still believe Finder is superior to File Explorer, it doesn't have the same novelty factor that it did many years ago.

Outside of this, I think the Finder icon is just a nice design. It doesn't cry out 'file/application manager' to me, but in a way I find this to be charming. Mac is Apple's primary platform that everything else is developed from, so to me it makes sense that they would want to continue to have this small emblem of character rather than copying the more sterile nature of Files on iOS and File Explorer on Windows.

You can make other arguments too about nostalgia and familiarity for long-time users, but I think Apple just likes the idea of the Mac having its own identity, even if it is such a small manner. It's where the Macintosh experience really began.

1768311009495.png
 
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I've always liked the logo, and I see it as synonymous with the Mac. I agree that these kinds of associations are good for the brand and very valuable, IMO. Warner Brothers learned this the hard way with HBO, and I think Apple would be nuts to mess with it.
 
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The word "iconic" has been severely diminished in meaning by every social media poster using it to describe pretty much anything.

Is the Finder icon legendary, famous, celebrated, notable, evocative..? Yes, without a doubt. I'd be surprised if anyone said that it wasn't.

That having been said: there are plenty of 'iconic' logos and designs that we think of as timeless, which have been subtly adjusted and tweaked over the years.
 
I like it. It doesn't look two-faced; it is one face with shadowing.

I think they used it simply because it is a smiling, friendly face, and quite different from anything else. Also, there is no other graphic or symbol as iconic to Mac as Finder's icon. I think it was also selected because it rarely changed throughout OS versions, and was the first icon on the dock (in order) when it appeared.

For historical context, prior to OSX and the dock that featured the smiling face to open Finder, they simply stylized the OS version.

41911-81414-000-lead-System-7-xl.jpg
 
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I was a Windows user my whole life, so I grew up with the also-iconic Windows logo. It's all I knew. But when I first saw the Macintosh "face" in high school I immediately knew it was going to be "a thing," and it always has been. To this day when I see it I smile.
 
Omega Mac said:
Is it literally the FACE of the Mac?

1768246871612-png.2595370


Even the finder icon is used as the avatar for the macOS forum.

In design and branding terms it would be classed as an Iconic logo, and thus an incredibly valuable asset.

However some do not agree, and feel arbitrary changes to such icons are justified in the universalisation of iOS ui's foibles across all Apple platforms (exemplified by Tahoe) - maybe you feel that way, or maybe you disagree strongly.

Post your vote accordingly, and comment as you wish.
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Iconic? Yes.

Icons can evolve. The new icon - wasn't a fan of the reversed colours initially but a few months in i don't even notice. Its mostly just a colour change. It wasn't colour at all originally.
 
The early Tahoe beta color swap, where the human face on the right was swapped into a "non-white" complexion kinda made sense from an inclusion standpoint, but the traditionalists won that one and it was reverted.

Finder Comparison.png
 
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judgeFire said:
The early Tahoe beta color swap, where the human face on the right was swapped into a "non-white" complexion kinda made sense from an inclusion standpoint, but the traditionalists won that one and it was reverted.

View attachment 2639017
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Thanks for that reminder as I forgot about the initial colour swap as well, so inclusion do you mean like DEI stuff?

While it's more than colour but if that was the only reason that would be a form of design/art revisionism (that's not even logical within the mind bending parameters of DEI afaict) which is really insane tbh and really dumb, so I'd hope that wasn't the reason (but you never know these days!) but you can also see the angular line choices, this killed the whole thing, it's not the same person/character, like a profile, a face (you never forget a face right?)

There was no serious thinking going on here at all with that chance, mayhap an ego driven change for changes sake (because!)c methinks and so I'd wager it couldn't have been "inclusion" grounds (no matter how nebulous the rational).

Initially I didn't hugely like the change from the previous not to the initial Squricle of Yosemite, but I didn't hate it, or spend much time on it, and it was fine very quickly.

However in comparison it is no way liek the change here with Tahoe move, it's not even comparable to the polish up of Yosemite onwards. This was nothing short of a substitution for the original, a virtual character assassination.

A fake!

Seem this is much like when Coca Cola changed their flavour formula, where Tahoe may be the Apple equivalent moment.

I think they reacted pretty fast and much credit is due here in terms of industry expectations, I've seen more indie open-source stuff take a decade or more to cop on to certain things eventually, Apple moved swiftly here IMHO, I think that's the bigger story in the whole thing and Apple deserve the credit.
 
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