I chose love, since its a topic I’m passionate about. Moreover I am passionate about human’s behaves therefore Love was with no doubt my choice between the four.
RESERCH
I started researching straight away about symbols in general, on few levels -
First level, Symbols around the world and in history - what symbols are there?
I found that most of my search result on Pinterest (which is the first place I go for inspiration and research) were spiritual and tribal symbols. It was quite interesting.
I found that every tradition had a different interpretation of elements, spiritual states, emotions etc.
This is the board of symbols -
and here are the LOVE symbols I’ve found there and later on also on google
INSERT GALLERY HERE
Then I moved to research about symbols and about love in a psychological level.
I’ve found that symbols first are related to our mind in general and our subconscious mind in particular. Freud and Carl Jung have been talking about symbols and our mind
https://www.harleytherapy.co.uk/counselling/symbols-in-psychology.htm
Freud’s most commonly known use of symbology might be his methods of dream analysis. He called dreams “the royal road to the subconscious”
“Jung devised the concept of archetypes, images and concepts with universal meaning that come from the shared past of humanity.”
There are ways to treat patients by symbols - either by analysing dreams or using the patient’s symbols language and try to change patterns in the subconscious (such as N.L.P and hypnosis).
I also watched this video talking about symbols and our unconscious mind, and found out -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaBPZC8QCOo
symbols are used by others to trigger our thoughts, emotions, wants, needs & actions.understanding of symbols and the memory of them is stored in our subconscious mindas Jung was saying she is speaking about symbolism that is remembered by our subconscious mind from other lives.
Then I studied about love and the psychological level of love in the brain, in our soul and in our physical body.
Love is a passionate and intimate commitment, According to this article - these 3 components are the true essence of love and relationship. Moreover, in our brain there is are specific binds and chemical structures that are being released and bond 2 humans / souls together.
There are spiritual and psychological guides which claims that the 2 parts of love creates 1 -
which means, in love - 1+1=1
(explained in a book I currently read about love and its higher state, in Hebrew).
Then I started exploring about similes and metaphors about love -
Similes -
Rose
Sunbeam
Blossom
fire
Lyre
Youth
Bathing
Death
Red
Parable
Metaphors -
fruit
head over heels
spice with many tastes
garden
plant
journey with water and stars
fire
a dos from hell
wing moults
bull
crocodile
a journey
a track in an open road
2 way street
dirt road
master key
deseas
MIND MAPPING
I started mind mapping about love, using important words I’ve collected on my researching.
When I think about love, the first thing that comes into my mind is giving and receiving - just like yin and yang. there is no love without yin meets yang. the balance and the interdependence of each other - 2 humans / souls, just as yin and yang do, is the true essence of a real and lasting love.
The important words that won my attention when I read my mind mapping were -
Yin and Yang
Giving and Receiving
Interdependency
intimacy
boundedness
powerful
connectedness
acceptance
commitment
unconditional
Eros (the god of love)
wings
key
fire
FIRST SKETCHING
YIN AND YANG -
The first idea came into my mind when I was looking about my mind mapping was Yin and Yang / Giving and receiving. I was thinking how to make this known sign of yin and yang to apply its own symbolism on love. Add to that interdependency, intimacy, connectedness and acceptance - it was obvious for me I would like to see 2 faces upside down as yin and yang. Each face would have a mouth, and eye, and the like which divides between them will look like their nose. One face will be black with white eye and mouth and the other one will be white and will have black mouth and eye.
I read few articles about yin and yang according to love, and I found there exactly what my perception was. Yin and Yang represent true love and relationship in a very clear way.
You'll notice that the Yin Yang is a composition of opposites, and yet it is the form of those pieces that allows them to come together and become a flawless whole. The significance of that (in relation to love) is that differences and opposites can be a very good thing; they allow for individuals to complete each other by "filling in the blanks" of the other's abilities, and allow for individuals to grow as one teaches the other missing pieces of understanding.
http://tommylangzik.blogspot.com/2010/06/yin-and-yang-of-love.html
When people see things as beautiful, ugliness is created. When people see things as good, evil is created.
Being and non-being produce each other. Difficult and easy complement each other. Long and short define each other. High and low oppose each other. Fore and aft follow each other.
Tao te ching, Lau Tzu.
Neither Yin nor Yang is absolute. Nothing is completely Yin or completely Yang. Each aspect contains the beginning point for the other aspect. For example, day becomes night and then night becomes day. Yin and Yang are interdependent upon each other so that the definition of one requires the definition for the other to be complete.
https://personaltao.com/taoism/what-is-yin-yang/
EROS -
The metaphor of wings took me straight away to think about Eros - the god of love, sex and fertility. He is another metaphor for love, as him and Cupid were the ones who could send an arrow of love towards humans. He was known to be carrying a Lyre or a bow and arrow. Wings and bow and arrow are what is representing him in the wide world. So I started sketching...
Source - Pinterest
ADAM AND EVE -
After thinking about Eros, my mind started to wonder about other mythologies and stories of love in history - it didn't take me long to think about Adam and Eve.
I started searching about Adam and Eve’s love, how is their love considered? was it true love? was it what I’m aiming for in order to symbolise them and their story - as pure love?
I stumble across this interesting video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C412bb_y3XQ
which the author of the book explain why Adam and Eve were the best example for love for him to write a book about it, and how it can influence today.
The most significant symbol which represents Adam and Eve’s story is the fig leaf they have covered themselves after they ate the fruit. So I tried to make an upside down triangle of the fig leaf - as for breast, and genitals.
But then something more interesting came into my thinking, I saw this picture of Adam and Eve under the tree holding each other, and as they were a the trunk of the tree. I was like they were one with nature, which this is what love is all about, 1+1=1.
so I tried to draw a symbol which will look like 2 people who complete into one being.
Source - Pinterest
PROGRESSED SKETCHING
I took my ideas into more sketching and scanned it. I decided to scan only 3 ideas and give up for now the fig leaf idea (maybe I can use it in another project in the future.
ILLUSTRATOR
Eros-
I started working on my scanned image, and traced it. I wasn't quite happy with the bow and arrow as a symbol of love, so I decided to keep it this way and use this idea on another project.
Yin & Yang -
Taking the Yin and Yang into illustrator was interesting, I was working on it to make it look more digital, using my own sketch as templet. I made a big rectangle and with lines made the divider. then added the mouth and eye, and used live paint for filling the black colours.
Then I was a bit concerned the faces didn't look happy enough so I used a paintbrush tool to shape their mouths to look like a smile (on the second photo)
Adam & Eve -
I wasn't sure about my own sketching so I tried to follow the actual drawings that I was inspired by to see how its gonna look like as just lines -
But it didn't quite made my point, so I was trying to make the same shape I initially wanted, but straight on illustrator, using my own sketch as a template.
I made one side, copied and flipped the other side, Then I was using the stroke as a sketch line to make it look like an ancient symbol.
FINAL DESIGNS EXPLAINED
Yin and Yang
Yin and yang is an ancient symbol, according to wikipedia - "In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (/jɪn/ and /jɑːŋ, jæŋ/; Chinese: 陰陽 yīnyáng, lit. "dark-bright", "negative-positive") describes how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another."
My perception about love, is exactly the meaning of yin and yang, there is no giving without receiving, there is one in each part but it wouldn't exist without the other, and in each part there is a bit of the other one.
I want to create a symbol that is clear that the two create the whole, that they are inter-depended, there is a bound between them and such an intimacy. The faces complete each other, the nose is shared and they each represent each element of Yin and Yang - just like in real love. The faces are close to show the intimacy between them and they are happy and full of joy.
Adam & Eve
Now this design started from the first ever love relationship in the history. Their story is shared and interpreted as they sinned and it seems like their story end bad because they were expelled from the heavens, but truly, without them going out into the world, they wouldn't have children and therefore "we wouldn't be here", the story goes on and their relationship and love resemble a lot to learn from. They grew out of hard situations and stayed together.
The other elements I wanted to put on while progressing with this design and the reason I left the design of the fig leaves for another time was - I wanted to create a symbol that have simple lines and contains other symbols in it. For example, there is a shape of infinity through their bodies and a love heart as their heads.
Also, It is a quote from a film a love saying that there is a known french saying that "a kiss is like dot the i of the word love" - DOT THE i
They are separated but not completely - interdependent but independent. and linked at the bottom like they came from the see source, the same creation.
REFLECTION
This exercise, again, was so challenging and taught me so much! I loved trying to find different symbols to define common understanding of things we see a lot and agree about.
It was defitnaly making me think out of the box and the research for this task was also a good fun and very interesting.
I was pushing myself again to work manually first and I started enjoying it.