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Why the ORANGE dot on the mute switch?

G

gloryunited

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 29, 2010
316
1
I've noticed on the iPhones(iPods), the mute(hold) button has an orange dot to indicate the on/off status. This may sound stupid but why orange? Does the colour mean something?
 
gloryunited said:
I've noticed on the iPhones(iPods), the mute(hold) button has an orange dot to indicate the on/off status. This may sound stupid but why orange? Does the colour mean something?
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I don't think theres any conspiracy theory here.

Its a nice gentle colour.

I actually dislike the way some companies use bright red on most things like this !
 
mickbab said:
Just so it is more noticeable.

You can quickly glance down and if you see a spot of bright orange, you know what's going on.
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Yeah I thought of the "easier to notice" idea too but why not green or yellow or some other bright colours? Is it something to do with Apple's history/tradition?

or was it Steve's favourite colour? (nope I didn't spell two words wrong)
 
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gloryunited said:
Yeah I thought of the "easier to notice" idea too but why not green or yellow or some other bright colours? Is it something to do with Apple's history/tradition?

or was it Steve's favourite colour? (nope I didn't spell two words wrong)
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Besides being the traditional colour of what they have used on lock switches (well my iPhone 4, iPhone 3G and iPod mini all have orange), I don't think there is any sort of company significance.

Nice spelling by the way :)
 
If it was another color you'd have created this same thread asking "Why the [insert color here] dot on the mute switch?" anyway so why does it matter?
 
Maybe it's a conspiracy that one of Jony Ives' designers is planning a mutiny and changing the name of the company to 'Orange'
 
Last edited:
2IS said:
If it was another color you'd have created this same thread asking "Why the [insert color here] dot on the mute switch?" anyway so why does it matter?
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Just curious as to why. The "bright colour stands out more" explanation seems good enough to me. lol
 
I'm pretty sure they chose it because it's a bright and noticeable colour, while being one that isn't unpleasant to the masses. I've never heard anyone complain of it being orange. If it were green or something, however... that wouldn't be good.
 
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because orange/red colors are the easiest for your eye to see. You have a higher density of cone cells in your eye near the center of vision which pick up the red/orange spectrum well.
same reason BMW uses orange/red for their dashboard display
 
One thing I've not seen mentioned is that the orange visible under the slider has been present since the original iPod used it for the hold switch. Shame to see such a long lasting piece of design continuity - one of the few things to bridge the transition from the iPod to the iPhone- go away.
 
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Mysterious said:
One thing I've not seen mentioned is that the orange visible under the slider has been present since the original iPod used it for the hold switch. Shame to see such a long lasting piece of design continuity - one of the few things to bridge the transition from the iPod to the iPhone- go away.
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You dirty necrobumper
 
It hasn’t been a dot for a long time. And the dot was red. Now it’s an orange line.
 
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