#124 Design Symbols

A symbol could be anything—an image, object, word, or place—that comes to represent something else. Most symbols take on meaning by being part of a significant moment that gives rise to a speech, story, or ceremony, and often all three.

A logo, brand mark or brand icon is a deceptively simple device. It employs a combination of shapes, colours, symbols and sometimes letters or words in a simple design that symbolizes the values, quality and promise offered by the manufacturers of a product or service.

THE JOB OF SYMBOLS When symbols are used to support your master narrative, they can do one of two jobs. You will need your symbol either to differentiate you from a crowded marketplace or to rehabilitate. Either way, it needs to be memorable and emotionally resonant. I’ll break down both categories and then teach you how to find yours on the follow

I think the only requirement of a symbol is that it have substance underneath: The first thing to do is to try to establish the substance. The style comes after the substance. Only then can the style help the substance, and vice versa. It’s a mutually reinforcing program.

The real breakthrough came when Sketch enabled nesting symbols inside of other symbols. Even as a single designer, there is tremendous value in properly defining, naming, and structuring symbols. Coincidentally, this is how developers structure components as well: starting at the bottom where they define things at a micro level, all the way up to e