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Start with form
Before meaning, look. Notice shape, symmetry, direction, repetition, center, boundary, color, and scale.
Purpose
Give readers a respectful method for studying symbols.
Key takeaway
A symbol should be seen, contextualized, and respected before it is personalized.
Before meaning, look. Notice shape, symmetry, direction, repetition, center, boundary, color, and scale.
A symbol belongs to people, places, rituals, stories, and histories. Personal resonance should not erase cultural setting.
20 minutes
What does the form make the eye do?
What does the symbol protect, remember, or transform?
Where might I be projecting too quickly?
A recurring symbolic pattern that carries psychological or cultural force.
The lived setting in which a symbol is used, not only viewed.