For this week’s assignment, I was pretty happy that we actually got to go out and take some pictures rather than drawing something because I’m not very good at drawing, I’m better at composing digitally, preferably on a computer or tablet. I was going out into town with my family and was going to take some pictures for the icons/symbols assignment (Journal 3) and so I decided to knock two birds out with one stone and take pictures of the arrows I could find as well. It wasn’t until this Journal entry forced me to look for all of the arrows used in signs and such that I realized just how much people rely on arrows.
Much like Phil Patton, author of the article “Setting Sights on the Arrow,” once I started looking for arrows, I noticed them everywhere! Not just on the street signs or on the roads, but in parking areas, for sale as house décor, on restaurant roofs. Even now as I type this, I see the up, down, and side arrows as well as the arrows on the tab, shift, and enter keys. Patton was right, arrows are everywhere. As human beings I think it is in our nature to look for those arrows, both metaphorical and in plain sight, to tell us where to go in life and how to do something when we’re lost.
This is how I started to find my arrows in the first place: we were lost. Well, not lost. We had been driving to Chatan for a few minutes and accidentally took the wrong back street. Anyways, there I was, looking for some sort of directional symbol to tell me how to get back to the main street. Soon I found the signs, as well as some on the road that I thought would be good to get. When we were looking for parking, there was another arrow: “IN” it was labeled. So we parked and walked around some, and that’s when I started finding the more interesting arrows. No little side-tails, just straight, thick blocks with sharp tips. Some were made out of multiple wood panels; one was made of an iron fence-like material. No matter what each arrow was made of, they were all designed to catch someone’s eye…and they did. I don’t know if it was because of composition or the fact that they were all arrows. We all seem to naturally look for them anyways, and if we’re not looking for them then we look at them when they are there.
The arrows on the scroll bar, next to my "Post Options" link below this text box. To go back to a previous internet page, or forward to one I have previously returned from, there are more arrows. Internet Explorer-blue, and waiting for me to click on them. The refresh key at the top of the screen has two arrows, each facing in a different direction, yet still beside each other. If I want to see the hidden icons on my taskbar or see what my print drop-screen looks like, there are more arrows.
In total I counted 34 arrows currently on my computer screen. 34! There is an arrow for almost every button, providing drop-down menus or directional aid. Nonetheless, I'm sure I would need these arrows. Take away half of them and yes, people would be lost for a little while. Companies would have to find different icons for some buttons. This just further proves the point of Patton, with my strong agreement: arrows are everywhere. People need them, people want them, people recognize them.
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