(re) INTRODUCING THE SYMBOLS

Several years back, the beginning of a creative project for creating beautiful, simple, modern, and clear symbols for the Roles began, and a round of experimental symbols was released. The response was wonderful.

These symbols were created through a collaboration of ideas and symbolism from me and then implemented through the creativity and mastery of my Artisan-Cast King friend, Johnny.

This week, he released to me a new incarnation of these symbols as they came to him in an inspired wave.

Below is most-recent incarnation of these symbols, and the most-beautiful incarnation to-date, in my opinion. He took the more literal symbolism that I had originally in mind, and morphed them into more living symbols that seem to capture the Role without over-simplifying or insulting it.

These symbols are not intended to become standard, but they can definitely work for now, and inspire others to build upon them! It would be wonderful to have a healthy, standard symbology for the Overleaf system that can one day be implemented as a short-hand in visualizing a profile, and this year might bring some nice progress toward that, especially if the responses are encouraging.

MEMBER ROLE BADGES

If the response here is positive, TLE will begin including in your Member Profile pic a little badge to represent your Role, superimposed over your picture!

If you like this idea, let me know, and we'll get you all set up!

For now, you can check out some examples using the Category Filter at the top of the ALL MEMBERS Search Page. Just click on a Role at the top, and then look below for the list. For now, there are only a few examples.

These symbols will also become available to you in our Manifest Essence clothing and goods line that we had put out a couple of years ago, and that store will be updated with the new symbols ASAP!

ROLE SYMBOLS

[SET A]

So... what do you think? What does the symbol for your Role evoke? What does it mean to you? Too literal? Too abstract? Too ugly? What do you think?

ADDED UPDATE: 

Based on initial responses, I thought I'd better pose some thoughts to consider when evaluating these symbols:

There should be a spectrum and depth built into these symbols, as is the case with all good symbols that represent complex systems. A stop sign needs to be immediate in its meaning, but these have to have depth.

A symbol at a cross-walk is going to need to be far more simplistic and lowest-common denominator, than say, the wavy lines for Aquarius. Are those lines water? Electricity? Astrology symbols require study for understanding. I'm hoping the eventual Symbols for Roles will have that same kind of depth.

There needs to be included the stereotype of the Role, as well as the broader context of the Role. For instance, is that a crown for KING, or is that the familiar arm chair of the Old King?

There needs to be included a spectrum from positive to negative about the Role, too. For example: are those handcuffs for the Server, or is that a nurturing hug for someone in need, or the linking that Servers are for all of us?

When looking at the symbols, see if you can see the positive and negative, the stereotype and the older soul version. Imagine them upside-down to see if there is more.

Share what you see for each, if you can.

NOTE: if you want your Role Badge activated, remember to say so in your reply! Thanks!

UPDATE: Based on these incredibly rich and helpful responses, and some discussion with Johnny and my own BF, who is an Artisan, here is where the symbols may go next because of your help:

Colors: they will remain the same, but we'll see if they can be made richer, and that the Priest and King are more defined and differentiated.

Server: What do you think about the circles being moved into each other more closely, creating more shared space, and less of a linking?

Priest: We are thinking of changing this to a spiraling outward, and/or something altering the current lines so that they more resemble a compass.

Warrior: I like the idea of reversing this so that it appears to be more of a Home, with the reverse being more of the "negative" side of Warrior.

King: We are thinking of breaking up the literal crown image but it's hard to describe what we are thinking, so I'll just have to present it when it's done.

Scholar: richer green is definitely in order; I'm not sure if we can improve on the Scholar symbol, though, so I'm still considering the feedback, and welcome more.

Sage: this one seems to be received well overall, but we might experiment with a reversed version to see what you think.

Artisan: we think slightly turning the image will evoke more immediately the beauty of a flower, rather than the atom.

What do you think of these potential improvements?

*****************************

UPDATE: Mar 29

Based on feedback, Johnny has tweaked the original symbols to the extent that he could, and to reflect as many opinions as possible. Scholar did not change (though the color is still getting a treatment soon), Artisan is only slightly altered, and Sage is showing the suggested reverse of the original. The others have several new concepts/symbolism to consider. The colors are still off, but that is an easy fix.

Take a look at the images and let me know which ones resonate with you. 

NOTE: to help keep order, please use the Letter and Number to refer to the image you like, dislike, or are discussion, such as for the 3rd one from the left for King is K3. 

Click on the image to see a bigger version.

[SET B]

UPDATE: MAY 8th, 2012

After a lot of discussion about the symbols above, which have great potential, I suggested to Johnny that we return to the ideas I had originally began with when I started working on these in the past. The previous symbol experiments (before the ones above) were based on key elements in our understanding of the Roles, symbolized by a consistent and succinct system. Those key elements were Cardinal/Ordinal and Inputs, as well as the sense of that range between solidity and fluidity. Below are some new ideas based on this alternative, simplified system.

Having a simple system like this potentially bypasses all of the problems of recycling imagery that may already be too charged with meaning. Having such a simple system in place would also mean that anyone could use the basic idea and create beautiful extrapolations from these.

Below is just a latest sketching out of ideas from Johnny, and not final, of course. This is a look at line drawings vs color-filled versions, and included in each is a black and white visual that wouldn't require color at all, so these could be easily drawn up on a chart, for example.

New questions to consider:

What do you think about the concept of these simple symbols?

Do you like them as colored line drawings, or do you prefer the color-filled?

Here is a key:

Geometry = the Axes (action, expression, inspiration, assimilation);
DOTS = Input Levels;
placement of LINE is Cardinal (above), Ordinal (below).

[SET C]

UPDATE: May 9th

ORIGINAL SYMBOLS - shall we just stick to these? [SET D]