Care Symbols

洗濯表示 / 1958– / Style / Symbol Systems

Four figures, the tub, the triangle, the square and the circle, carry garment care across any border. Washing, bleaching, drying and ironing all compress onto a tag a few millimeters wide, information design worked at the smallest possible area.

Care Symbols — Care label tag — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Care label tag — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Care Symbols — Care label (CC BY-SA 3.0) · © Mk2010 — Care label (CC BY-SA 3.0) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · © Mk2010

Care Symbols — Chart of textile care symbols — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Aaron headly — Chart of textile care symbols — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Aaron headly

At a glance

Visual cues

Tub, triangle, square and circle
The prohibition X and temperature dots
Compression into millimeters
International standardization

Best used for

Designing handling instructions that must cross every language
Printing instructions for several processes into a few millimeters

Use this style

Take the compact brief into a project or hand the structured version to an AI tool.

design.md image prompt JSON API MCP & machine access Compose

open in ChatGPT open in Claude open in Google AI

Detailed guidance and sourcesProduction rules, reference works, comparisons, research and citation formats

Dictionary entry

Type: Keep the four base outlines, line weight equal across all of them
Composition: Wash, bleach, dry and iron in that order, evenly spaced in one row
Material: Woven or transfer labels whose outlines survive repeated washing
Caution: Thinning the lines to fit a smaller tag lets dots and crosses clog after washing, and a prohibition gets read as permission.
Further study: ISO 3758 / Japan's 2016 label changeover / national differences in symbols

Related entries

Pictogram System (案内用ピクトグラム)Shared effects: Trust / Technique / Intimacy.Compare Care Symbols and Pictogram System
i-mode Emoji (iモード絵文字)Same Symbol Systems lineage.Compare Care Symbols and i-mode Emoji

Cite this entry

The dictionary is meant to be linked to. Take whichever form fits where you are writing.

Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/care-symbols
Markdown: [Care Symbols — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/care-symbols)
HTML: <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/care-symbols">Care Symbols — IndexStyle</a>

Back to index position