Open to interpretation
Through our experiences, education and environment the potential for differences in the way people see interpret symbols/logos is enormous. After a recent comment on one of my logo designs ( which I’ll get to in a minute ) I thought I’d take a look at how wildly opinions on symbols can vary.
The pentacle star is one such symbol open to various interpretations. Often associated with satanic practices, the pentacle star has had many meanings throughout history, the earliest of which dates back to around 4,000BC and is the Pagan symbol for the sacred feminine, the female half of all things.
The Swastika, made notorious in 1939 by Nazi Germany with their invasion of Poland. In western and european cultures this symbol is universally associated with one of the worst periods of modern history. Its root however are far less macabre.
Like the pentacle star, the swastika dates back to around 10,000BC. More recently, the swastika has been used in Chinese, Japanese and Hindu culture for around 3000 years and is still used today as a symbol of good fortune, blessings, luck, vitality and life.
The inverted cross is another symbol with wildly opposite meanings. To some, the inverted cross represents the rejection of Jesus, anti-Christianity and any number of other Satan related meaning.
Many Catholics on the other hand wear the mark as a sign of humility in honor of St. Peter who supposedly elected to be crucified upside down as a sign of respect for Jesus as he did not feel worthy to be crucified in the same way. Not the way I’d choose to go, but hey…
Finally to the logo that prompted this post, and a little history on its origin. The above logo was designed for Donaldson’s Jewellers, a jewellery store in coughs harbour which specialized in rings.
John and Cheryl Donaldson are jewellers, they were refered to me by my father who is a jeweller and as you can imagine I saw a lot of it during my upbringing. The stationery is printed in a metallic gold Pantone and between the lot of us we all see rings.
Recently Tom was kind enough to comment on the design and apparently, Tom sees books. I must confess during the whole process books never entered my mind. It’s always interesting see how differently people interpret things.
What do you see?
Looking now it’s perfectly understandable, I wonder why I didn’t see it then… jewellery on the brain?
The first 3 examples obviously have a lot of history, if you know any other symbols with such wildly varied interpretations I’d love to know them.
Very good article. It brings to light another point, that a symbol in one culture, or one country, can have opposing meanings in another.
Does this mean we should be aware of the differences as designers and not use the symbols?
I think some symbols have such a stigma you probably couldn’t, or at least wouldn’t, Troy.
I can imagine lifting the veil on a design featuring a swastika in front of a western/european client and trying to explain it originally means good fortune, probably wouldn’t be received too well.
I must admit, the swastika was the primary example for this post but I intentionally didn’t make it the first image and I didn’t want peoples minds racing off before they understood the article.
Perhaps I’m just paranoid, what do you think?
Even after having it just explained to me I still see the swastika as the Nazis.
I still find it astonishing how many people think ’satan’ the second they see a pentagram. It is definitely a case of people being ‘aclimatised’ to a certain way of thinking and then disregarding any other alternatives.
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I wear a St. Peters cross and I’ve been asked a few times “Shouldn’t that be the other way up?”.
I remember seeing the Swastika on statues and stuff when I went to Thailand. At Budhist temples and places like that.
The pentagram I’d read before as a sign of protection too, the Saint Peters cross though I’d have never gotten. I’m not religious but it just seems the wrong way up to me
Brendon,
It’s got enough history that will probably always be the case.
Ewan,
It’s much the same as the Swastika I suppose, even though popular perception about it may be wrong, there is enough of it that it isn’t likely to change.
Jennifer, Milly,
I wouldn’t have know any better before researching for this article either.
Really interesting stuff to read Andrew. Reading about the logo you designed I see rings now but if you’d told me about books I guess I would see them. Just proves your post I guess.
When I first looked at the image, I saw a collapsed stack of books. But that is out of context. With the name of the company, the image is clear enough.
Jaydee,
Seems that way.
Jmundstuk,
Good to know the message gets across. ( p.s. your first comment ended up in the spam queue for some reason. )
It’s easy to see why you had jewellery on your mind with how much you’ve seen. If you’ve got any spare, it’s my birthday soon.
wink wink.
Beck,
Happy birthday! A small gift is in the mail.*
* There is no gift in the mail.