Of course if you are Visual.ly – worlds number 1 showcase of infographics then whatever you produce would have to be pretty slick, right? The Origins of Common UI Symbols is just superb – the perfect combination of interesting (actually fascinating) information, clean graphics, balanced colour palette and minimal elegance to make a great infographic.

The infogrpahic covers the following symbols:
standby
pause
ethernet
bluetooth
play
USB
Sleep/snooze
Firewire
@
Apple command
Apple spinning wheel of death

My favourite histories are for bluetooth – named after Danish king Harald Blåtand Gormsen because of his penchent for blueberries he had a permanently stained tooth! The symbol is a combination of 2 runes that represent his initials.

And the USB symbol based on Neptune’s trident.

The Apple command symbol is actually taken from the symbol used in Swedish campgrounds to denote ‘a noteworthy attraction in campground’. Also known as a Gorgon Loop.

Personally I think this would make a great poster and would love to have this on my office wall.

The Origins of Common UI Symbols was crafted by: Sofya Yampolsky, Warm Gun, 500 Startups and Visual.ly