Facebook's icon is no longer a tiny woman hiding behind a large man
Facebook's icons are highly recognizable, yet often go unnoticed. For years, the "Friends" icon depicted a male figure prominently, with a smaller female figure behind him with almost half of her body obscured by his.
Image via TNW
Finally, a heroic design manager at Facebook took it upon herself to change the subtly offensive icon. "I assumed no ill intentions, just a lack of consideration," Caitlin Winner wrote in a Medium post today. "As a woman, educated at a women’s college, it was hard not to read into the symbolism of the current icon; the woman was quite literally in the shadow of the man, she was not in a position to lean in."
Granted, depicting binary genders with long hair versus short hair still seems pretty archaic. But we appreciate baby steps nonetheless.
Cover image: TNW