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The symbolism of the circle goes
harmony and unity” (Howard 1). There
period but first recognized by the
comes to these themes of birth, life,
as far back as the Mesopotamia
Egyptians. Specifically, a fifteenth-
century mathematician scribe, Ahem, the earliest contributor to math
is a certain harmony in place when it love, and death within a circular motif.
whose name is known. The Greeks
The circle is a grandfather to design,
of geometry. Geometry is a base of
has been prevalent through numerous
considered Egyptians the inventors design because that is how grids
formed like the golden mean. Along
with squares and triangles, circles are the basis of polygons meaning they form more creative and attractive
results. Shapes are a big component
in graphic design. Humans see shapes before details. Shapes can either hurt or please the eye.
In design, there is psychology and the reason behind every choice. So due to the geometric and psychological
definitions of a circle were meanings
for birth, life, love, and death formed culturally. Circles are a universal
symbol with extensive meaning. A
circle represents things that create a sense of completeness. “Circles are still symbolically important today. They are often used to symbolize
as old as time itself in other words. It designers work but specifically
more so in Josef Müller-Brockmann’s
work. He moulds circles within a grid
allowing depth and negative space to shine through a 2D shape. He is the
inspiration of this Swiss, minimalistic design showing circular motifs are
successful in real-world applications. Brockmann mainly works with circles
in poster formats through illustration mediums but the circle applies
beyond that. Not only is it applied in illustrations but also logos, patterns, typefaces, and shapes. Circles
figuratively and literally connect the old and the new, how styles have changed but the elements have
remained true. Rather than focusing on circles in their entirety, there is
a lens placed over the elements of
design instead. Elements like color,
type, and picture treatment have
relaying the content to the customer
always a constant with ever-
never just shapes. A shape is a
gone round and round for decades changing styles.
The history of the circle is prevalent in today’s world of design. The history, psychology, and math
behind this shape enable infinite
in the proper context. Shapes are symbol and that is the difference
between a pretty aesthetic and visual communication. Just like a museum, design’s purpose is education and communication.
possibilities. While the aesthetics of a circular symbol certainly change
with time and outer world influences, the universal meaning has not.
This is the reason how people can communicate from past decades
to today. Not only can knowledge
transcend through times, but symbols are also how people can interact
without words. To interact without
words is a big point of graphic design which is why logos are as essential as the brand identities and information themselves.
The blending of history, math, and
psychology that have bettered design into the prestigious field it is today.
It is the common themes of birth, life, love, and death that aid the meanings within the design into successfully
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...an end is just another beginning. Blue was the color of the heavens and water. More importantly,
blue represented rebirth. The
Egyptian symbol for rebirth was
the Ouroboros. The Ouroboros is
a snake in the shape of the circle.
One half of the meaning is the snake is coming out of its mouth which
represents new life. The other is the
snake eating its own tail representing death. In pop culture today, thanks to Harry Potter, people associate
a symbol of rebirth with a Phoenix. A phoenix is born again out of the
own ashes from which it died. From
Ouroboros to the phoenix, the symbol may have changed but the meaning of rebirth is still the same. Both of
these symbols are created in circular natures because of their definitions, an end is just another beginning.
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...built from the same blueprint. Green represents new life, growth, vegetation, and fertility. A person
doing “green things� was beneficial.
The Flower of Life symbol represents
the same things the color green does.
The Flower of Life is a circular pattern created from a grid that historically
represents a visual expression of the connections of life that run through all sentient beings. In symbolizing creation, it reminds humanity of
the unity underneath everything.
Everything is built from the same blueprint.
The oldest known depictions of
the Flower of Life were found in
the Temple of Osiris in Egypt that
dates back more than six thousand years ago. Recent research shows
it could not have been made earlier than 535 BC. This is a grid artists
have designed from centuries. For
instance, Leonardo da Vinci further studied the Flower of Life and
its mathematical properties. He
drew inspirations from the symbol
when creating his Vitruvian Man as well as deriving the five platonic
solids (tetrahedron, the cube, the
octahedron, the icosahedron, and the dodecahedron), and Golden Ratio. All are elements designers use in
present time. Today you can find the Flower of Life in use on a sphere
under the paw of a guardian lion in
the Forbidden City in Peking, China.
It is because of the Flower of Life we are able to create elements that are
foundational to a designer’s tool kit.
Elements like compositions, negative space and layouts which are relevant to this capstone project as well. Another Egyptian symbol
representing life is the Circle and Dot. This symbol is in relation to
the Eye of Ra, a sun god. The sun
has been of circular nature since the big bang while also in use for cross-
referencing time. The sun is a living
This is how designers are able to
the Sun round? Large space objects
ones chosen for this exhibit, that all
thing with its own life span. Why is
are round because they formed and collapsed under the force of their
create iconography, much like the can identify.
own gravity. As material collapses
on itself, the most natural, efficient shape to form is a sphere.
The Circle and Dot is a quite literal representation of time, from day and night and season to season,
time cycles with the sun. Functions
that are stuck in bringing humans a new year to a year’s end, over and
over until the sun collapses on itself completely. A concept humans have been able to organize due to the
Mayans into what is now known as a calendar, or a wristwatch or a clock.
This Egyptian symbol has influenced the design of everyday objects
people use which in turn influences
design. The graphic design industry pulls from its social surroundings.
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...symbolizes the eternal. Yellow symbolizes the eternal and
become one. The claim is that
of love which has been and is
toward establishing and sustaining
Following suit, the wedding ring
Leary 1). So psychologically, a
rings were gold, they were braided
to humanity’s well-being which was
was placed on the fourth finger of
band. In other words, a circle can
a vein connects from that finger to
hemisphere. The circle is much like a
indestructible much like the theme
human beings are “naturally driven
represented by the wedding ring.
belongingness� (Baumeister and
also originated in Egypt. Before
sense of belongingness is crucial
rings of hemp or reeds. The ring
all compressed down into a gold
the left hand because it is believed
hold a heart and mind in the same
the heart. Today, wedding rings are
wedding vow, infinite.
the diamond-encrusted investments one thinks of. As the economy and
resources have modernized through
time, allowing the uses of metal, the
meaning as remained the same. Since the first band was braided, the ring symbolizes love. It is also a public
symbol of an agreement to devote and, respect. So even though the
rings started out as green, they are
more so associated with yellow color gold today.
Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary
argue that the need to belong is a
fundamental human need. Much like interlocking circles that represent strength and solidarity, when two
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...that is the circle of life. In its negative context of anger and
were suffering from the after-effects
with the Egyptian god Set, who
American colonies where a smallpox
fire, the color red became associated was the personification of evil and
darkness. A person filled with rage
was said to have a red heart, a heart that can kill. The noose has been
a form of capital punishment since
the fifth century when hanging was
introduced to Britain by the Germanic Anglo-Saxon tribes. The gallows were an important element in a Germanic culture which is how it then trickled down into seventeenth-century America and England.
In America, the noose was infamous
of a British war with France in the
epidemic broke out. Those that were “bewitched� were suffering from
fungus ergot, fungi that grew on rye, and wheat. Symptoms from ingestion included delusions, vomiting and muscle spasms. On top of which there was a fear of attacks from
neighboring Native American tribes. The combination of these hardships fueled the tensions that prompted the Salem witch trials that caused
suspicions and resentments between the neighbors and outsiders.
during the Salem witch hangings.
In England, there was the Golden Age
the belief that devil worshipping
maritime piracy which significantly
The witch trials came to light when practices gave certain humans the
power to harm others in return for their loyalty. Witch hangings had emerged as early as fourteenth-
century Europe then widespread into colonial New England. What people took as magic was natural selection and adaptation. The truth was the
harsh realities of life in rural Puritan communities like Salem. People
of Piracy. It was a common period of factored in the histories of the
Caribbean, the United Kingdom,
Indian Ocean states, North America, and West Africa. This and the
successful Pirates of the Caribbean
franchise is how pop culture has come to associate hangings with pirates
as well as witches. The two events
in history were also simultaneously
happening across the Atlantic Ocean.
The noose had remained the primary form of killing until about 1890 but it was not until January 25 1996, it
becomes illegal. Today, “hanging� is now injected into the veins in liquid form creating the same suffocating effect not lasting nearly as long or
painful. It is because of this history,
a color as simple as red has become filled with passions. Red can be
interpreted in numerous ways in
design which is why the psychology and reasoning must be behind the
visuals created. So red paired with
a symbol of death signifies the end,
where a new circle will begin. That is the circle of life.
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