Simplification Through Symbolism

This week  in class we discussed symbolism and simplicity. First we created a list of 10 quotes that had visual potential, from those 10 we chose 3 to develop into ideographs. Here's mine...

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

This is an old proverb that means it's better to have a lesser but certain advantage than the possibility of a greater one that may come to nothing. I basically simplified all of the words in this quote into symbols. I think the universal sign of 'equals' is what ties the whole ideograph together.

"Walls have ears."

I think everyone knows this quote means that someone is listening in on your conversation, and you don't want them to hear what you're saying. I depicted this in the most literal way. I think the lines by the ear help to convey the 'listening' element better than just the ear by itself. I added the white lines in the rectangle in a brick pattern to help show that it is a wall, otherwise it just looked like...well, a black rectangle.

"Small leaks sink the ship."

Most people take this to mean small flaws can spell mayhem for great things. Just as a little water dripping into the hold of a ship will eventually fill it up and sink the ship or, a little lie may cause a big problem. This is a literal composition of the quote.