It's similar for the iron. Maybe dots as temperature isn't obvious, but it's about as clear as the thermometer, is easy to read, and matches the icons on the iron itself.
It’s really not. It looks like an Erlenmeyer flask, which could contain anything (“use detergent”? “Use additives”? There are lots of things that come up in bottles in my laundry room).
I found the ones about drying to be better, probably because the original ones were way too abstract.
> If I don't know what a line under the washing machine means, how am I supposed to know what the 2nd button means.
Exactly! I don’t know what pushing the 2nd button on my washing machine does, either. Hell, my washing machine does not have anything that looks like the buttons of the symbols. And good luck trying to guess which one of the three buttons is filled after 5 washes, when the presence of one or two lines will still be clear.
Or does that just happen on European irons?
At least that's how I see it, it could also just have been the last obvious symbol remaining after square/triangle were taken.
(I do think the circle is difficult, but that's probably because I don't typically wear clothes that one would think about dry cleaning)
Which is exactly in line with 'good' ui design in software. So goal achieved, I guess.