Good image to represent “Publishers” [closed]

Question

I'm looking for a symbol or image to represent publishers. In most situations it will include the text "publishers", but nonetheless I would like the symbol to make some link.

The best that I can think of so far is either:

1. a pile of books, but that is already a strong representation of "books" which we may need.
2. a picture or symbol of a press (as used in printing). Seems a little too abstract to me though.

Neither one seems to be very clear. I'd appreciate some additional suggestions or feedback before I do some usability testing on it.

Answer 1

What kind of role does the publisher play in the environment the icon is needed, and what does the publisher exactly publish?

If you know what part the publisher plays on the website/app and how the user sees the publisher you can use that in determining what icon to use. Translating the role into a icon might be easier in terms of icon design and easier in terms of recognizing the icon, as you're catering to the knowledge and vocabulary of the user.

Consider the following examples:

1. The publisher represents a catalogue of of books:
   
2. The publisher represents someone that does the act of publishing a blogpost:
   
3. The publisher represents a person/corporation:
   
4. The publisher represents someone you collaborate with:
   
5. The publisher represents the process of being printed:
   

Each of these could work (especially in combination with 'publisher' next to it as text) even though they do not directly translate to 'publisher' as it might be defined by a dictionary.

Answer 2

According to Wikipedia publishing is the activity of making information available to the general public.

So I'm thinking of books (information) is made available (arrows) to the general public (a group of users) - and the image would look something like:

I use publisher intentionally, because I think one item is a better representation than many, but this is all up to you to decide. :)

Answer 3

I would try to combine a print icon with a book in this case. Because that is what publishers really do. They print your stuff and publish it in a book.

+ = publish icon

But it's really hard to find new, irregular icons. So maybe you should use the 'publish' word instead, because people won't understand your new icon... which they've never seen anywhere.