Symbol Word on the Street Symbols in Art Kids

Symbolism (as well called semiotics) is a powerful tool in man communication. Information technology is how we convey ideas that are too circuitous or nebulous for words, and it allows us to practice and so across language barriers. And graphic design, which is all nigh communicating through recognizable imagery, regularly depends on symbolism.

Illustration by OrangeCrush

Symbols are so ingrained in our cultural consciousness that we oftentimes use them without thinking. Sometimes, they are and then old or obscure that information technology can be easy to forget their meaning. This presents a problem for graphic design: in club to employ symbols effectively, designers must understand the ideas backside the icons. Otherwise, they may end upwardly sending unintended messages through their piece of work.

In society to make sure that this doesn't happen and that you are able to tap into the ancient power of symbols, nosotros're going to provide an overview of the history of common symbols, their meanings, and modern interpretations of symbolism in design.

What is symbolism
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Symbolism is the use of written marks, shapes, images and/or concrete objects that accept meaning assigned to them. They are all effectually us. The letters that make up the words on this folio are technically symbols—we collectively concur that these abstract markings correspond the sounds of human spoken communication.

Symbols are useful considering they provide a visual expression of significant. For example, a red octagon is universally understood to mean "cease" and this can save lives on the road where reading longer words at loftier speeds is not practical. Frequently, the intended meaning can be much more circuitous than a unmarried word, and symbols foster simplicity to speed up comprehension in the viewer. This is why graphic designers use symbolism in design to communicate visually.

By tilleri

Graphic designers often both reuse common symbols in their piece of work and design new, original symbols. When information technology comes to logo pattern, for example, the goal is to create a unique pictogram that encapsulates what a brand is all nearly. In order to do so effectively, it is important to understand where many common symbols have come from and how they take historically played a role in visual language.

With that said, in that location are an overwhelming number of symbols that have cropped up throughout human being history. For the purposes of this article, we will be group symbols into three full general categories, diving into some detail examples, and discussing the means in which modernistic designers have repurposed them.

Nature symbols
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When you consider the proliferation of scenes of animals in cave paintings, it is clear that the early on humans understood their lives through their interactions with nature. This has remained with us even through the advancement of civilization and applied science, and almost all symbols have some foundation in reverence for the natural earth. Permit's go over a few of the mutual categories of nature symbolism and how they are implemented.

Owls are one instance of animal symbolism, usually representing wisdom. Logo design by artsigma

Creature symbols and medieval heraldry

Animal symbolism unremarkably associates specific, personified qualities to animals. These qualities have been built up over millennia through mythology and stories: the deceptive serpent in the Volume of Genesis, the graceful swan of Grimm's Fairy Tales and the slow and steady tortoise of Aesop'southward Fables. As such, many of these qualities are fairly intuitive (though they can vary by civilization), for example in Western cultures:

An example of medieval heraldry. Image via wikimedia eatables

• Lions symbolize royalty
• Doves symbolize peace
• Bulls symbolize rage
• Owls symbolize wisdom
• Dogs symbolize loyalty

Animal symbols were popularized past heraldic charges in the Heart Ages, in which shields and flags would bear coats of artillery signifying group affiliation. Although all sorts of iconography (especially religious) were used, the most common heraldic charges included lions, eagles, wolves, bears, stags and fifty-fifty mythological creatures such as griffins or dragons—all of which were backed by decorative floral elements. This tradition has continued into modern flag designs, with many states and countries adopting specific animals every bit representative mascots.

Designers today sometimes repurpose medieval heraldry for brands—the competing factions of the modern age. Because coats of artillery are archaic symbols in and of themselves, they are useful for brands cultivating a sense of quondam globe tradition, every bit in the case of family owned businesses or classic services like vino making. Though they favor an illustrative way, designers can also use modern techniques, such as designer Skilline'due south monoline arroyo below, to merge the past and the present.

The important thing is that they embody specific and unique personality traits through  the use of thoughtful animal symbolism in design.

Parts of animals tin also be isolated for their symbolic meaning. Wings are often used to represent freedom, antlers tin can correspond authorisation (being like to a crown), and paws, talons or tusks can symbolize strength.

Floral symbols

The laurel is a usually used floral symbol of victory and achievement. Logo design past anton-p

Floral symbols oft infuse plant imagery with growth-related meanings like renewal, serenity and aspiration. Many have their roots in nature worship mutual in ancient religions—for example, the Knot Tree of Celtic symbology. But just like animal symbols, many plants have historically been associated with specific qualities, such as:

• The olive co-operative as a symbol of peace
• The iii-leaf clover equally a symbol of luck
• The rose every bit a symbol of love
• The lily as a symbol of mourning
• The laurel as a symbol of victory

Floral elements can also deed as the focus of a heraldic charge. Design past DariaR

In heraldry, plants often provided decorative flair, and similarly, modern designers tend to take advantage of curling vines and roots equally framing elements. But some were relatively commonplace equally the main field of study of a heraldic charge, such as the rose in England and the fleur-de-lis in France (both of which became symbols of monarchy in their respective countries). Information technology is of import to research these medieval associations when designing floral coats of artillery.

Lotus imagery is mutual in brands dealing with health and wellness. Logo design past vraione

One of the more famous floral symbols of the new age has been the Lotus flower. In Hindu and Buddhist tradition, it is symbolic of divine purity, with gods depicted sitting or continuing on one. It is too often depicted splayed apartment with symmetrical open petals symbolic of the dissimilar chakras, energy that sustains homo life. These associations have led to it becoming popular with art and pattern associated with wellness and wellness.

The 4 elements and zodiac symbols

Nature symbolism in design typically seeks to portray harmony and balance—in other words, nature as an interdependent ecosystem. This idea is exemplified by the four elemental symbols: globe, water, burn down, and air. Together, these elements summon Captain Planet… er, contribute to a sense of well-being and wholeness. Separately, they each possess their own qualities: earth being solid and stable, water cool and calming, air light and moving, and burn dynamic and stiff. Designers frequently portray them through colour and/or abstract line art.

The elements of nature and their attributes are specified further within zodiac signs. While these signs have their ground in starry constellations, they each represent unlike animals and coincide with one of the four elements:

• Earth sign: Taurus, Virgil, Capricorn
• H2o sign: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
• Air sign: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
• Burn sign: Aries, Leo, Sagitarius

As well, the particulars of each zodiac sign informs the associations of the element to which information technology is attached. Designers today ofttimes utilise zodiac symbols—both their animals and elemental colors—as shorthands for attributes which embody the subject of their blueprint.

Zodiac signs are ripe with nature symbolism which can be useful for design. Packaging by brandstrategy

Goddess symbols

Plants and animals are the virtually obvious subjects for nature symbology, simply for a long while, humans—or more than specifically gods and goddesses in the shape of humans—represented personifications of nature. Well-known Greek examples include Artemis, Pan and Gaia.

More than commonly, you volition see these coalesce into a singular goddess mother, too known equally Mother Nature. Designers these days use goddess symbols every bit a reference to nature as a approval, an icon of the wisdom and power of the natural world.

Celestial symbols
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As we know today, the night sky is in effect part of nature, only for the about office, humans have non experienced it this way. The celestial globe is remote, inscrutable, and at night it is riddled with cryptic signs and symbols. This often leads celestial symbolism in design to stand for mystery and supernatural portent. Allow's go over some of the most common.

Celestial stationary, past Alina Gronska via Behance

Solar symbols

Being the giver of calorie-free and the most powerful object in the sky, the sun is one of the about prominent celestial symbols, oftentimes associated with royalty. For much of history, it was depicted equally a perfect disc with a dot in the center, the circle itself symbolic of the wheel of rise and setting. Later, information technology transformed into a sphere with a cross in the middle to indicate the four seasons, and the Hindu swastika would be derived from this version.

Eventually, the Greeks gave us the Vergina Sun, which was the precursor to the common mode of solar symbol we know today: a golden circle with a ring of triangular rays stretching out from it. Much later, medieval knights added a face to the sun, called sunday in splendor, with alternating straight and wavy to adorn shields.

By Taynara Lima, via Behance

For modern designers, solar symbols typically represent ability and joy. Though dominicus in splendor iteration has been repopularized past emojis, information technology still tends to requite a subtle, heraldic flavour to designs.

Lunar symbols

The moon, meanwhile, both acts as contrast and compliment to the lord's day. While the sun is gold and frequently mythologized as male person, the moon is often represented as silver and female. Both sun and moon represent cycles, but the moon undergoes more dramatic changes, admitting predictably, every month. For this reason, it has get a symbol of transformation.

The most iconic of these forms, the crescent, was the moon's symbol for eons. Because the crescent is a seemingly impossible shape in the sky and because it comes out in the cold darkness of night, it is typically associated with mysticism. Designers today utilise this symbol to lend brands an air of transformative magic.

It is important to notation, all the same, that the crescent—especially when paired with the morning time star—is often attributed to Islam after the symbol was adopted for medieval heraldry of the Ottoman Empire.

Constellation and planetary symbols

Star constellations are associated with the zodiac, but many also derive their significant from mythological tales and the characters therein, such every bit Orion and Ursa Major. Existence immortalized as a constellation was often the divine reward for a heroic quest or sacrifice.

The planets each accept symbols equally well, largely based on their Roman god counterparts—the symbols for Venus and Mars existence where gender symbols come from—and each are associated with a metal, both of which designers can consciously utilise in their projects.

Constellations work well every bit backdrops or frames in graphic design compositions, similar to floral elements discussed earlier. Conversely, past outlining subjects in starry lines, designers are able to give their projects the same mythical weight which storytellers of old imbued their constellations.

Geometric symbols
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In addition to nature and cosmology, humans have historically interpreted their world through recurring shapes. This has much to do with pattern recognition: people naturally recognize repetition in the world effectually them, and ane of the most commonly repeating elements is basic geometry.

Triangles, pyramids and the all-seeing eye

The thing about simple geometry is that it tends to express purity and residual, all of which are ripe for symbolic pregnant. Much of this is abstract and based on construction—for instance, circles can represent infinite cycles, and squares can represent stability.

Triangles are useful for projecting divinity onto a blueprint. The rays of light emanating from the central image support this result. Logo design by thedani

One of the more meaningful basic shapes has been the triangle, or more specifically its 3D counterpart: the pyramid.

An equilateral triangle is essentially an arrow pointing upwards, and it tends to be associated with divinity.

Consider the worship of sacred mountains, including Mount Olympus, Mount Sinai and Mount Fuji. The Ancient Egyptians believed that the celestial N Pole in the night sky was the realm of the gods, and pyramids were built aiming towards this betoken presumably to give the deceased a pathway to the heavens.

The divine clan is also why the Eye of Providence is frequently depicted within a triangle and/or on top of a pyramid. It represents both the idea of a deity who sees all and is the architect of the universe. Information technology is besides a possible relative to the Middle of Horus, used in Ancient Egypt to signify royalty.

In modern times, the eye has come to symbolize conspiracies due to its association with the Freemason secret guild and its clan with the government on the US dollar bill. Many designers use the Omniscient Eye to suggest customers are function of an hush-hush counterculture or will have admission to exclusive knowledge following their clan with a brand.

Sacred geometry

While basic shapes can contain subtle significant in their simplicity, complex geometry invites mathematical precision into the equation. In many means, math is the fundamental expression of the laws that govern our universe. Sacred geometry, which is a wholesale term for geometrical symbols that have spiritual meaning, can be understood every bit a style for ancient people to visualize and tap into the universal ability of mathematical proportions. There are many sacred geometrical symbols across many unlike cultures, just we'll name some notable ones here.

• The Mandala tin accept a variety of shapes, simply the nearly basic construction consists of a foursquare containing four T-shaped gates on each side and a bindu (a central point). Diverse geometric configurations, lotus petals, colors and/or depictions of deities emanate from the bindu. The significant varies depending on the structure, as outlined in Hindu scriptures, but the mandala generally aids in meditation.
• The Yin Yang was used in Ancient Cathay to represent the interconnectivity of opposing forces through perfectly proportioned curves.
• The Pentagram, or five-pointed star, originally represented various Cosmic ideologies such as the five joyful mysteries of Mary. Information technology later became branded every bit a symbol of evil and the occult, particularly when faced downwards so that 2 points are positioned at the acme, reminiscent of devil horns.
• Metatron's cube, bated from having an undeniably cool proper name, is fabricated up of a series of interlocking hexagons, triangles, and circles which form a 3D cube at the eye. Like the Pandora'south Box, Metatron's cube is often symbolized every bit a container for divine knowledge, after the function of its messenger namesake.
• The Penrose triangle, while non sacred in the strictest sense as being tied to whatever religion, was created in the 1930s by Oscar Reutersvärd and represents impossibility in geometric grade.
• The Aureate Spiral is probable the almost well-known to graphic designers. It is a screw created using the golden ratio, and it is typically used in design equally an aid in proportion and composition.

As in that location are many different possible configurations for sacred geometry, designers must do research when using ane for symbolic meaning. It's easy to think of sacred geometry as simply pretty and complex—like a slice of jewelry—but think information technology is called sacred geometry for a reason.

These symbols are ofttimes associated with specific cultures and/or religions, and you should be mindful of your justification for using a symbol like this in your project. Not but is information technology respectful to do so, consumers will probable respond negatively to a make that appropriates cultural symbols for commercial gain.

Bold you have washed this and are moving forrad with sacred geometry, in general they are useful in projecting order and remainder onto a design composition or supporting some focal imagery, such equally an illustration.

Create your own symbolism design
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Like all communication, graphic pattern relies on symbols. But while there is a long history behind the common symbols and their meanings, designers must exercise more repurpose these symbols. Often, being a designer means coming up with a unique symbolic linguistic communication for a business organisation, so that consumers can understand their values and what sets them autonomously from competitors—all at a moment'southward glance.

In order to practice so effectively, it is important to await back at the symbols that have come before. If y'all're considering using symbols in your ain brand'southward designs, be sure that you are working with a talented designer with an middle for symbolism.

Want to harness the ability of symbolism for your make?

Our designers can help you lot create merely about anything.

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