I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the matter of Goya’s peasant before the firing squad.–Gerald Holtom

Symbols can hold a lot of meanings and evolve just as quickly as an era. None quite exemplify this better than the peace sign. The symbol that served as a brand for several movements recently turned 50, in which time its significance has changed as much as the change it has inspired. The BBC recently wrote a piece on its inception and its evolution into and as one of the most widely known symbols in the world.

The sign was originally created for the CDN (campaign for nuclear disarmament) by Gerald Holtom, a professional designer and graduate of the London Royal College. It was to be the a badge of the ’direct action committee against nuclear war’ and used for the first demonstration against aldermaston (a British research center for the development of nuclear weapons) in 1958.

From design boom

from a design point of view, it is interesting to note that the original sketches are preserved at the school of peace studies, at the bradford university. they show a symbol that stood for ‘the death of man and the unborn child’ and that symbol was designed from the naval code of semaphore - the code letters for N and D (nuclear disarmament). N is two flags, arms downstretched at a forty-five degree angle, and D is two flags, one arm straight up and one straight down. the ends of the ‘arms’ and ‘legs’ thicken and splay out noticeably as they approach the circumference. the circle itself was thick - the thickening itself has two versions: in one, all the straight strokes are thickened; in the other, only those in the lower half of the circle. it is said, that the reason for the symbol being upside down (D over N) is that semaphore is a military code and upside down symbolizes ‘anti-military’.

The symbol has been associated with everything from Martin Luther King’s movement, to satanic inverted cross and communist leanings (which may have been less of an issue if Holtom when with his original idea of a Christian cross symbol within a circle motif). It’s been carried as a banner of peace by anti-Vietnam protesters and seen as’ the footprint of the great American chicken’ by the soldiers abroad. Some have even gone so far as to compared it to the runic letter death and to use it in products and fashion.

The real power of the sign, its supporters say, is the reaction that it provokes - both from fans and from detractors. But to its credit, its simplicity allows anyone to drum up this reaction with a few quick strokes (important in places with not so free expression).

But the designer’s revelations are always telling. According to the BBC

American pacifist Ken Kolsbun, who corresponded with Mr Holtom until his death in 1985, says the designer came to regret the connotation of despair and had wanted the sign inverted.
“He thought peace was something that should be celebrated,” says Mr Kolsbun, who has spent decades documenting the use of the sign. “In fact, the semaphore sign for U in ‘unilateral’ depicts flags pointing upwards. Mr Holtom was all for unilateral disarmament.”

It’s never been copyrighted, so it’s free to all (for better or for worse), as is its meaning and significance. All they ask is that commercial users to make a donation which will go to education and the information work.

The symbol is still recognized in GB as the logo for nuclear disarmament, but is known worldwide for peace and non-violence. But it’s the democratic and collective use of the symbol that has and will continue to make or break or change or do away with it all together.