The Difference Between Signs And Symbols.
By Derrick Tsorme
Introduction
Design, fortunately or rather unfortunately, has so many moving parts that you need to keep abreast of every time. This makes the design industry one of the most dynamic industries in the world and, as expected, there is a need for design heads to constantly be ready to change levels whenever need be. With the help of design, we have been able to facilitate communication among people who may not even speak the same language. So we can say design has become somewhat of a language on its own, bringing people together to exchange ideas based on various elements existing in the world of design. Signs and symbols have been in existence from time immemorial and have been visual representations for communication through which people have depicted their philosophies, knowledge and skills to execute specific roles in society. This has being a very remarkable thing in human evolution - how we learned to communicate using signs and symbols. The meaning of a sign or a symbol may be discretionary, therefore different signs and symbols can be used to mean the same thing and vice versa. Bottom line, both symbols and signs have the primary goal of bringing order to where chaos reigns.
Symbols
All written communication can be referred to as symbols, at least as they were used in times past. In the beginning, the two concepts were one in the same - Symbols and Language. It was during the prehistoric era that symbols were not just used as an auxiliary in language but rather a way to help make sense of everything. But now, the term symbols brings to mind marks that go beyond our normal writings and we use them now as an aide to communication. The meanings of various symbols in times past are very much up to speculation. From the symbols made by the Cro-Magnon people of France and Spain to the symbols made by the people of Mesopotamia, the meaning and use of symbols varied per the person you asked. People were either trying to give understanding, jot a thought down, or just create a likeness on stone or parchment. Some also used symbols to signify their dominion over the animals they were depicting or just simply to recreate the things they were thinking about. One other group of people who made extensive use of symbols are the ancient Egyptians. Their hieroglyphics, which later became an audible notation, was primarily visual in form and they used symbols to represent ideas. The owl symbol, for instance, was used to represent wisdom or just used to represent the owl itself.
They bridge the gap between what we think/experience and the outside world. Robert Sapolsky defined symbols as “a simplifying stand-in for something complex”. For instance, the flag of any country might just be a cloth filled with colors and other elements but deep down, represents much more than meets the eye. Hence we can define a symbol as simply something used to communicate the understanding of an idea, an act or maybe an object. People have been able to create symbols using marks, punctuation, alphabets and numbers. This goes to show, everything can be a symbol and everything might not be as you are seeing.
Signs
Signs have been in existence since the Paleolithic era and date back to the 18000BC. It involved representative expressions through paintings on the walls of caves that usually told a story. These were thought to be ritualistic paintings, however, they went on to lay the foundation of artistic expression and also, human communication. The Greek, Egyptian and Roman empires began the wave of modern signs. They made signs out of stone or paintings on the outside and inside of buildings with the use of unique imagery and made it easy to understand for everyone. As time went on and trade and commerce increased, the need for various parties from different empires to be able to communicate with each other became obvious. They used bright paints and ornamental iron to make these signs that were used to depict various items of necessity to their trade. Signs are used to depict exactly what they want to mean. For example, the traffic signs on the highway that mean a speed bump is approaching, show exactly that so even if you don’t understand the language, you won’t struggle to understand.
How signs and symbols differ
Usage
Symbols are mostly used as encoding or mnemonic tools to make information that is deemed important easily understandable. So symbols like the dove - which is used as a representation of peace, the red rose/the color red in general - which is used as a representation for love or romance, Black - death, broken mirror - separation and so on look. Some commonly used symbols in design include the arrow, the Wi-Fi symbol, Cloud symbol, etc. Symbols are usually encoded with information. A black rose might mean strength for one person but mean death to another. So as one person might see a black cat and freak out, another person will see a black cat and hug it. Symbols are used to depict ideas and these ideas vary.
Signs, on the other hand, do not contain any cryptic information. They usually mean exactly what they look like. They are used to describe things without the use of words. For instance, the wheelchair sign, used to depict wheelchair accessible areas, doesn’t need to be paired with words before people understand. Once you have seen a wheelchair before, you will immediately know what the sign is trying to imply.
Look
Symbols, as stated earlier do not look like their meanings and hence do not look like everyday things. Symbols like the Bluetooth symbol and the Ying-yang symbol do not look like everyday items and hence need either a background information or text near it to become easily understandable to people.
Signs on the other hand, look exactly like things they are supposed to mean. For example the signs on the washroom doors that show which gender should use which bathroom, mean exactly what they look like.
Colors
Symbols sometimes rely on their colors to show their meanings to people, whereas signs can even be in black and white and still mean the same thing. For instance, the red flame has more meaning being red than when it's say yellow. People will easily identify it with danger when it is red than they will do when it is yellow. However, the wheelchair sign will remain a wheelchair whether it is black or blue.
Interpretation
A sign is a universally accepted inscription whose meaning has to me followed without question, however a symbol may only be meaningful to a particular group of people and may be interpreted differently by people of different origins.
Many people tend to think signs and symbols are synonymous. However, there are documented differences that exist between the two terms. Hopefully after this explanation, you know the difference now.
