“Setting Sights on the Arrow” by Phil Patton was a very interesting and informative read about a symbol that everyone uses so casually, it is forgotten sometimes that it had originated somewhere. The twenty arrows I found, I categorized into five sections, from left to right: instructions, natural, simplified, street, and symbols.
One of the points they made was that it was first made by the primitives, who used the original hunting weapon from which our simplified arrows of today derived, to possibly point out a good food or hunting source. This could be related to the instructional arrows of today, which show the direction to do a certain action, even though not all are straight lines like original arrows. For example, you swipe a credit card down or you turn the key counterclockwise to open the lock. Surprisingly, as simple as an arrow seems, three out of the four shapes are asymmetrical. They, like all symbols, have a high contrast between the rest of the sign that they appear on. Mostly, the arrows are the focal point of every sign.
The natural arrows show that it is easy to spot things that resemble the shape, since most arrows are a triangle-tipped line. This comes from the original arrows that were used for hunting with an aerodynamic length and a sharp-tipped point that goes from a point to a large base so that it would easily go in, but not as easily come out. The top arrow is pointing upwards, and is made from the side of a building made of glass. The middle pictures show a simplified version of an arrow with only the triangle tip, but both seem to be pointing into a direction by the repetition and rhythm of the triangles. The bottom arrow, as mentioned in the article, is spray-painted onto a sidewalk. It shows how the arrow is typically depicted; as long as there is a straight line and an angled tip, it will resemble an arrow.
The article also mentions how the arrow has many different variations, and over time it has simplified down to a triangle. The symmetrical, simple shape is usually small compared to the space and other objects around it. They all have in common that they do not have the straight line extending from the tip, but they vary from there. They can be completely equilateral triangles, like on an iPod, to show which direction to press to rewind; with a slight indent, like on an elevator button, to show that this will make the elevator go up; or made of two lines, like on an “Exit” sign, to indicate direction.
The most common place to find arrows, I believe, is on the street to indicate direction. They are very self-explanatory, and usually the contrasting black on white or vice versa. The article mentions the squiggly arrows for winding roads or symbols that show what happened during an automobile accident. Half of my pictures are symmetrical, the “One Way” sign and the bottom arrows that show where parking is permitted. A very common occurrence is to see them directly painted on the pavement.
Lastly, there are symbolic signs. The top arrow shown it showing the direction of north, like on a compass, from which it was derived from, according to the article. The next two are different versions of the “Recycle” sign, also mentioned in the article. Patton says that “the basic message of direction can be built on and played with,” as it was to indicate the continuous cycle of recycling (Patton). As seen, the arrows can be played with so much to get a message across. With these two signs, they are symmetrical, but vary different. For instance, one is an open shape with curved sides, while the bottom sign has sharp points of the triangle and is a solid color. The bottom shape also plays with the elements of rhythm and unity, by having the same shape repeated three times, but varying in size. The symmetrical bottom arrows that point in opposite vertical directions with two people standing within a square indicate an elevator.
Overall, I found this assignment very interesting. It made me look at the way arrows are presented. For an everyday use, it is kept simple, smooth, and solid, while a more elaborate arrow has a different shape or style because of the purpose, such as catching attention in a busy sign. I like the way arrows are developing into simpler shapes, but I think that they are at the brink of the simple shape that they can be. It was interesting to have the development of the symbol have attention drawn to it through the article. It is something that isn’t thought about much, but once it is, it has an interesting history and without arrows, our world would literally be chaos, in some respect. We are guided along roads to tell us which way to turn, how to achieve a certain action, and which direction to go to get to a certain place.
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