[HN Gopher] Biohazard: Iconic symbol designed to be "memorable b...
___________________________________________________________________
Biohazard: Iconic symbol designed to be "memorable but meaningless"
(2016)
Author : jsnell
Score : 121 points
Date : 2023-02-23 03:31 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (99percentinvisible.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (99percentinvisible.org)
| thriftwy wrote:
| If you wanted to be a sign of theological danger, it would
| obviously be an eye inside the yellow triangle.*
|
| In this fashion, Bill Cipher character from Gravity Falls is the
| walking sign of theological danger and also that danger
| incarnate.
|
| * - if ancient Greek would be inventing that sign, they'll surely
| pick Zeus' ligtning bolt inside the yellow triangle - e.g. the
| one we use for electricity
| nmstoker wrote:
| I always associated the image with a gas mask: the two lower
| circles suggested the filters on each side of a mask.
| agumonkey wrote:
| The open circles gives this an insect mandible vibes that clearly
| screams "bio" something.
|
| Just like cats fly away from cucumbers, we probably have a few
| innate patterns triggered by some shapes. Snakes maybe, multi
| legged things.. oh and Trypophobic patterns.
| aleksiy123 wrote:
| I think the curviness as opposed to straight lines make it seem
| more bio. The other examples they have are made of straight
| lines and feel man made. Finally, I guess the spikiness conveys
| danger.
| zeristor wrote:
| Flying cats?
| agumonkey wrote:
| this
| https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cats+cucumbers
| atoav wrote:
| Some cats jump ("fly") away scared when they see a cucumber
| as if something deep in the reptilian part of their brain is
| reminded of some threat.
| remarkEon wrote:
| Not really related to the biohazard subject, but has anyone
| figured out why cats do this? Or even posited a theory? It
| was a source of amusement on vine way back when that was a
| thing but I've never really seen an explanation for the
| phenomenon.
| CalRobert wrote:
| My cat absolutely flipped out at seeing a wrench on his
| chair a few days ago...
| spacephysics wrote:
| Snakes. Humans have a similar adaptation, our lower
| periphery is tuned for it, as well as our reflexes
| override our conscious choice when, say, a snake goes for
| your face behind glass
| agumonkey wrote:
| I think so too, I even think that the 's' sound is also
| linked to snakes and slowly creeping dangers in many
| cultures.
| zoomablemind wrote:
| Even though the sign shows the test tube holders, what it invokes
| in my mind is the image of dust or skin mites under the
| microscope. Those that look like alien monsters with claws and
| armor. DANGER, Will Robinson! Weird, but that's the power of
| association.
| rdiddly wrote:
| Somewhere (my own head I guess) I got the idea it was supposed to
| evoke the business end of a microscope, albeit abstracted, y'know
| with the 3 rotatable lenses.
| steve-atx-7600 wrote:
| It could just be me, but a skull and cross bones "poisonous" type
| icon seems more effective. I don't see the problem with using a
| symbol already associated with death/harm. I remember seeing a
| skull/bones icon as a kid and the message was clear. You could
| paint this in pink - or use in on a bike helmet - and the meaning
| isn't lost when labeled on a hazardous substance. I don't think
| the same is true for the logo they chose.
|
| I can also understand a skull/bones symbol rotated by any angle.
| Might it offend someone? Probably...what doesn't.
| kzrdude wrote:
| Different symbols for different hazards, like in data sheets:
| https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/whmis_ghs/pictogra...
| 7952 wrote:
| But such a symbol could mean a lot of different types of
| threat. Sometimes we need to be specific. A bin in a hospital
| full of needles is different to a bin with iodine 125 inside.
| It requires a different response. A skull and cross bones could
| mean stay off my land, mine shaft, deep water, posion,
| anything.
| hojjat12000 wrote:
| pirates...
| toss1 wrote:
| Impressed with their criteria and design of their experiment.
|
| Also, very sympathetic with the inventor being upset with use of
| the symbol out of it's place, thereby reducing it's
| effectiveness. This seems like one instance where copyright law
| should be implemented and strictly enforced, some kind of license
| free-to-use for actual biohazards but not anything else.
| thejohnconway wrote:
| Yeah, I'd never thought of the overuse aspect of symbols like
| this, and I agree. I think it should be enforced.
| ComputerGuru wrote:
| This is actually the case for the washing machine/dryer/care
| tag symbols on clothes. They're actually licensed trademarks of
| an organization that (freely?) licenses them specifically for
| use on clothing labels for care instructions but forbids their
| use otherwise such as a part of a t-shirt design for aesthetic
| reasons or on a mug or the cover of a magazine (fair use
| excepted).
| wizofaus wrote:
| Would this count as fair use? https://www.spreadshirt.com.au/
| shop/design/funny+washing+ins...
| kipari wrote:
| Related to this is the Red Cross and Crescent symbols, which
| have their usage protected usage (mainly for armed forces and
| emergency relief) by the Geneva Convention:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emblems_of_the_International_R...
| ClumsyPilot wrote:
| Seems like a clusterfuck:
|
| "Johnson & Johnson has registered the symbol for their
| medicinal products."
|
| How did this ever get approved?
|
| "The appropriation of the symbol has led to further
| irritation due to the practice of hospitals, first aid teams,
| and ski patrols in the United States reversing the symbol to
| a white cross on a red background - so undoing the original
| idea of the Red Cross emblem, namely reversing the Swiss flag
| - thus inappropriately suggesting an affiliation with
| Switzerland."
| kube-system wrote:
| The wiki article says that J&J was using the symbol before
| the US started enforcing protections on it. So the answer
| to why it was approved is that there was no law preventing
| it from being approved.
| fredley wrote:
| Even Stardew Valley fell afoul of this and replaced it's red
| cross medical logo with green:
| https://www.stardewvalley.net/1-3-32-small-bug-fix-patch-
| rel...
|
| I imagine many other video games violate the Geneva
| convention!
| cprecioso wrote:
| Oh good I can introduce you to one of my favorite Twitter
| accounts https://twitter.com/violategeneva
| ClumsyPilot wrote:
| Copyright is the wrong hammer - firstly it will run out
| eventually.
|
| Secondly, copyright holder can die, coupyright could be sold,
| and new owner could be irresponsible, litigious, and repurpose
| the symbol for a brand of coffee.
|
| Then what, should all labs and scientists in the world find a
| new symbol?
|
| The only solution is to treat misuse of the symbol same way we
| treat misusing emergency services.
| toss1 wrote:
| Yes, I think you're right.
|
| I was first thinking of laws, but they are slow & contentious
| to pass (esp with one party consistently acting in bad
| faith), so I quickly landed on copyright, which of course has
| all the problems you cite and more.
|
| Maybe start with (C), and pass laws to implement your
| solution? Or, maybe there's a way prosecutors can leverage
| existing laws.
| severak_cz wrote:
| There is a Czech food supplement brand called Diochi which
| literally uses biohazard symbol as it's logo. It made me smiling
| when I found out this. I wonder if they were trolled by their
| graphics designer or what.
|
| https://www.diochi.cz/cs/o-nas/zapomenute-jmeno
| loa_in_ wrote:
| Every symbol with a completely novel meaning must be meaningless.
| That's the definition of something new...
| [deleted]
| Etheryte wrote:
| That's not really true and the radiation sign is a good example
| of that. Even though it was a new symbol at the time, because
| it visually looked similar to the related phenomenon it was
| possible to find meaning in it without prior knowledge. Not
| necessarily the right one and that's a part of the point. If
| your icon looks visually similar to something else, people
| might incorrectly infer a different meaning.
| wizofaus wrote:
| It's hard to argue the radiation symbol inherently indicates
| danger though. That our seemingly natural reaction to it is
| "beware" can only be the result of learning the meaning of
| it. Unlike, say, signs showing "danger to cyclists" by
| literally depicting a cyclist flying off their bike
| (https://www.roadtrafficsigns.com/signs/cyclists-falling-
| on-s... - actually the only place I recall seeing signs like
| this was NZ).
| croes wrote:
| From the proposed symbols in the picture down in the article,
| do you think the right most one would be considered
| meaningless?
| 0xffff2 wrote:
| Yes, to the point that I am confused by the question. Could
| you explain why you (presumably) don't?
| croes wrote:
| Add one arm, what comes into your mind?
| marcellus23 wrote:
| That's a stretch.
| croes wrote:
| Seems to be not a far one because you know what I mean.
| Dylan16807 wrote:
| If you take a design with only a couple elements, and add
| a new one under someone's instructions, it's not hard to
| make it look like something else. It's definitely a
| stretch to say it already has a meaning. A circle with a
| line down the middle doesn't mean anything, but you can
| outline the bottom quarter slice and make it a peace
| sign. Or rotate it to make a no sign. Or take an
| equilateral triangle and overlap another rotated and it
| becomes a star of david.
| loa_in_ wrote:
| It's not in the set of symbols I know and I browse through
| unicode sometimes!
| croes wrote:
| I didn't say it's not new but not without similarity to
| existing symbols.
| dclowd9901 wrote:
| There's something really insidious about the design I can't quite
| put my finger on. The sharp points maybe? It also looks vaguely
| like a satanic symbol, but that would require knowing about
| satanic symbols to be effective, and I assume this symbol is used
| universally!
| arthurcolle wrote:
| They look vaguely like demonic sigils, but I think for me its
| more the sharp black/yellow contrast
| twic wrote:
| See also the bouba/kiki effect: spiky shape = spiky sound =
| negative valence:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouba/kiki_effect
|
| In particular, this little experiment:
| https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327766252_The_Good_...
| ModernMech wrote:
| It looks 3 insect pincers or mandibles.
| twic wrote:
| Yes, it looks very insectile to me too, and as such,
| instinctively unclean and repulsive.
| mLuby wrote:
| I wonder how it's perceived in Muslim cultures where the
| crescent moon shape is much more common and positive.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2023-02-25 23:01 UTC)