What genius decided that it would be better to use strange, esoteric symbols on fabric care labels instead of clear instructions? Someone at the Soap and Detergent Association who had too much time on his hands.
I’m looking at my coat, wondering what the alien symbols on the label mean — I had to turn to the internet to find the answers. Any symbol that requires some kind of reference search has completely failed as a method of imparting information.
After you figure out what the base symbols stand for, you have to decode the dots and dashes. Here’s an example of really poor design: More dots means HOTTER; but more dashes means GENTLER. Wouldn’t more dashes properly mean more forceful?
I dunno. I can’t figure out why we needed this bizarre system.
In the end, I deciphered my coat. It says “Don’t wash/Medium Iron”. It took me 10 minutes to figure this out. 4 words on the label would have told me what I needed to know instantly.
