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What icon would best convey "Make a new post"? Can't think of any, considering just spelling out "Make a new post" instead.

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Are you intending to make a button to click on to 'make a new post', or is it to indicate 'there's a new post to read for you'? –  Vincent Jan 25 '13 at 12:28
Make a new post, yes. Maybe I should update my question. –  Mark Boulder Jan 25 '13 at 12:36
I don't know about best, but how about some sort of block of text with a + on top of it? ( pretty common in forums ) –  Joonas Jan 25 '13 at 12:59
Yeah, + is probably the closest one we got so far. Nice one! –  Mark Boulder Jan 25 '13 at 13:34

3 Answers 3

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Some quick ideas:

  • Piece of paper with a plus sign on it.
  • Pencil icon to represent "Compose", could be on paper as well.
  • Plus sign within a button that is a color that stands out. If the page is all white with hints of blue, make the button a green color for example.
  • A plus sign in a speech bubble.
  • Any of these ideas with the text "New Thread", "New Post" etc., could work as well.
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+1 for plus sign in a meaningful icon like a speech bubble or document icon, which adds something over earlier suggestions. It's worth mentioning that pencil icons are often used to mean "Edit", so that might confuse. That said, there's some disagreement over whether anyone actually understands this symbolism, and if they do, whether they think of edit and create as being different actions, or the same action (go to a page where you can write), so it could work depending on context. –  user568458 Jan 25 '13 at 17:18
Pencil icons do tend to be ambiguous but then again so do the plus signs. Although it is very common for forums and webpages to just put text next to the icon for clarification, it's always best to avoid text as a crutch. If the icon is designed correctly in the context of the webpage (as you said), people will get it without the text. The pencil icon could potentially be on the piece of paper as well (added in answer). –  Mindsparks Jan 25 '13 at 17:39

Assuming that wordpress are the people who have reserched this the best I thought it worth taking a look at what they use. They use a pin icon to illustrate 'post'. Going with the theame that the blog is more like a noticeboard than anything thats actually posted. The other examples I have seen are all a little too generic to really comunicate what you are doing.

The pin is also used on sites like Pinterest to link to something, to communicate that you are creating something I would make the button Red. Which thanks to Google is now the colour for a button that creates something. (with other colours reserved for other types of buttons). I nottice it's orange on stack exchange, which is one of the most used colours for a call to action and could also work.

Still definutely worth writting the text in aswell tho. Good luck.

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It depends a bit on how large you want the icon te be displayed and still be recognisable. Ideas that pop up in my mind are a fountain pen (or maybe just the pen's nib), a set of radially arranged lines

radial lines to indicate 'new'

or a star over a blank sheet of paper.

A traditional 'new document' icon might also work: a rectangle with a dog ear on the bottom right corner.

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It looks very appealing, but sorta reminds me a bit too much of those Ajax loaders. New document icon - very interesting. –  Mark Boulder Jan 25 '13 at 13:34
Or the Walmart logo ;) –  plainclothes Jan 25 '13 at 18:43

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