community logos (iteration 6)

a project exploring ideas for community logos

Introduction

This is iteration 6 of a project exploring ideas for icons/logos for the Neurosymbolic Systems AI research group emerging at City, University of London.

The previous iteration, (5), explored alternative colour combinations for the neural, symbolic and background components of a particular preferred icon design. The current iteration, (6), explores alternative symbols for representing the symbolic component of the preferred neural-symbolic icon.

There are multiple constituencies (domain specialisms) at City which may have an interest in feeling that their domain is represented by an appropriate symbol in the icon designed for City’s neurosymbolic AI research community. A request was put to me to search for candidate symbols to represent these various domains.

The following 8 domains were specified:

  • health / life sciencies / bioinformatics
  • energy
  • environment
  • industry / manufacturing
  • transport
  • defence / security
  • food / food policy
  • logic

The current design of the preferred icon already caters to hosting 9 symbols. So it has the capacity to host at least one symbol from each of these domains of interest.

All of the candidate symbols displayed on this page are organised according to these 8 categories. There is also an additional 9th category, miscellaneous, which displays various other symbols that may be of interest.

So far, feedback regarding colour combinations for the icon (as explored in iteration 5) indicate strong convergence around a preference for black-coloured symbols. Hence, all of the candidate symbols presented here are coloured black. All of the symbols shown here, however, share a particular format that allows their colour to be changed, should a desire for a non-black symbol colour arise in future.

Sometimes multiple versions of the same symbol are displayed. The motivation for this is to illustrate the visual effect of using thinner vs thicker strokes. A thicker stroke is likely to make the symbol stand out better when it is placed within the overall neurosymbolic icon. But sometimes a thicker stroke can blur a symbol’s definition or make it less immediately recognisable (e.g. with logic symbols such as universal and existential quantifiers). Multiple versions of the same symbol are indicated by letters on their identification numbers (e.g. 1a, 1b, 1c). Only some of the symbols capable of having their stroke thickness altered have in fact been explored in this way. So if you like a particular symbol but only one version of it is displayed, it may still be possible to explore modified versions of the symbol.

Many of the symbols displayed on this page appear to have white-coloured internal regions surrounded by a black stroke or black body. While these internal regions appear to be white-coloured on this webpage, in fact they are almost always ‘clear’ or ‘open’ regions that will take on the background colour of the neurosymbolic icon, whatever that happens to be (expected to be white or some shade of grey). One should keep this in mind when interpreting the look of the symbols within the target icon. It may well be feasible to arrange for these internal regions to be white even against a non-white background, but that would introduce a 4th colour to an otherwise 3-colour colour scheme.

Some of the symbols appear in more than one domain category.

The icon and some preferred colour schemes

For convenience, here we remind viewers of 1) the preferred neurosymbolic icon design, 2) some of colour schemes for which people have expressed preferences (using an arbitrary sampling of background shades), and 3) the original set of 9 symbols.

Domain: health / life sciences / bioinformatics

Here are the symbols identified so far that bear some relation to this domain category.

Comments: The heart symbols (top left) have a weak association with this domain category. Knowing this, I've included them anyway. Cardiology symbol 1b is a version of 1a with a thicker stroke. It shows how a thicker stroke can help in some respects but hurt in others. The little dot on the left end of the digital signal is hard to discern in 1b, and without that it's harder to interpret the angled line as representing a digital/scientific signal. Hence, there's a risk some viewers would interpret cardiology symbol 1b as a 'broken heart' symbol rather than as a symbol suggesting cardiology (heart health science). Similarly with cardiology symbol 2: I have imposed my own (biased) interpretation of 'cardiology' upon this symbol; but the average viewer could well interpret this as a 'broken heart' symbol. The beaker symbols are suggestive of science, but not necessarily health/life science. The earth globe symbols also appear in the domain category for environment.

Domain: energy

Here are the symbols identified so far that bear some relation to this domain category.

The battery symbol 4 looks distinctive, but the grey-coloured top will, effectively, introduce a 4th colour into an otherwise 3-coloured colour scheme. So it may prove aesthetically awkward. The wifi symbols 1 and 2 also appear in the defence / security domain category, under the theme of signals / communication. Presumably wifi symbol 3 could do so as well.

Domain: environment

Here are the symbols identified so far that bear some relation to this domain category.

The sun & moon symbol is a mashup of sun symbol 4 and the moon symbol.
The wildlife symbol 7 is a mashup of top fish from symbol 2 and the bear in symbol 5.

Domain: industry / manufacturing

Here are the symbols identified so far that bear some relation to this domain category.

Notice how the thicker stroke of robot symbol 4b makes the ears less discernable than with the thinner stroke used in 4a. The simpler design of the ears in robot symbols 3a/3b means we can use the thicker stroke without sacrificing good definition of the ears.

Domain: transport

Here are the symbols identified so far that bear some relation to this domain category.

Domain: defence / security

Here are the symbols identified so far that bear some relation to this domain category.

The key symbol 4 is the same as 3 but at a 45 degree angle. The lock & key symbols are mashup pairings of some of the lock and key symbols.
The rocket/ICBM symbols also appear in domain category industry / manufacturing. The lock & key symbols are mashup pairings of some of the lock and key symbols.

Domain: food / food policy

Here are the symbols identified so far that bear some relation to this domain category.

The food and drink symbols 2 and 3 were discovered exactly as they appear. Symbol 1 is my own mashup of the apple from symbol 2 and the wine bottle from drink symbol 4. Similarly, the food symbol 3 (apple) is a larger version of the apple taken from food and drink symbol 2. The drink symbols 4 and 5 were discovered exactly as they appear. Other combinations / mashups of the component symbols displayed here are feasible.

Domain: logic

Here are the symbols identified so far that bear some relation to this domain category.

The universal and existential quantifier symbols 1 and 2, respectively, are true LaTeX renderings. While these renderings are highly likely to be recognised as intended by the average viewer, they have limitations: these are static images rather than (svg - scalable vector graphic) figures, so we cannot thicken their stroke (to make them stand out better) or change their colour (if desired). The counterpart symbols 3a/3b and 4a/4b, respectively, are SVG reconstructions that permit thicker strokes and/or colour changes. The thin strokes of the true LaTeX renderings have recognisability, but they may not stand out well because of their thinness. The thicker strokes will stand out better, but may not be as recognisable.

Domain: miscellaneous

Here are the symbols identified so far that bear some relation to this domain category.

The bug symbol arguably has a weak association with the environment domain category. The explosion symbol arguably has a weak association with the defence / security domain category. The bluetooh symbols arguably have a weak association with each of the energy, industry / manufacturing and defence / security domains.