# Care Symbols (洗濯表示)

> The symbol system that crosses borders with four figures — tub, triangle, square, circle. Washing, bleaching, drying and ironing compressed onto a tag of a few millimeters: information design at minimum area.

- IndexStyle No.436 — https://indexstyle.org/styles/care-symbols
- Kind: Style · Family: Symbol Systems · Era: 1958–
- Mood: Trust, Intimacy, Technology
- Color cues: #e9e6dd / #67635d / #171615 (cues taken from reference works, not a fixed palette)

## Defining characteristics

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

## Best used for

- Comparing primary sources and canonical works
- Extracting principles that transfer to other media

## Research method

This entry records a historical style; derive the treatment from its sources rather than a fixed recipe:

- Observe the letters, signs and scale of reference works
- Extract the one structure that governs gaze and information
- Verify the materials and behaviors specific to era, region and process

## What to avoid

Don't reduce it to surface signs. Verify the context of era, region, technology and makers.

## Application checklist

Before calling a piece an application of this style, check it against the defining characteristics:

- [ ] Tub, triangle, square and circle
- [ ] The prohibition X and temperature dots
- [ ] Compression into millimeters
- [ ] International standardization
- [ ] At least one reference work below has been studied directly
- [ ] The caution above ("What to avoid") has been addressed

## Related styles

- **Pictogram System (案内用ピクトグラム)** — Unified symbol systems that name facilities and actions without language. Tokyo 1964 systematized sport and wayfinding symbols; the AIGA/DOT transportation set became the public-domain world standard. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/pictogram-system
- **Emoji (絵文字)** — The shared sign system that began with Shigetaka Kurita's 176 12x12-dot glyphs for i-mode. MoMA acquired the original set — the pictogram lineage extended into conversation itself. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/emoji

## Further study

- ISO 3758
- Japan's 2016 label changeover
- national differences in symbols

## Reference works

- 洗濯表示タグ — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Label%20with%20care%20symbols.JPG
- ケアラベル（CC BY-SA 3.0） — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Laundry%20symbols%20on%20a%20care%20label%20attached%20to%20a%20shirt.JPG

## Source of record

- GINETEX — 国際衣料管理表示機構 — https://www.ginetex.net/

## Machine surfaces

- JSON: https://indexstyle.org/api/styles/care-symbols
- Image-generation prompt (legally clean): https://indexstyle.org/styles/care-symbols/prompt.txt
- MCP: https://indexstyle.org/mcp (tools: search_styles, get_style, compose_styles; prompts: image-prompt, apply-style)

## 日本語

たらい・三角・四角・丸の4図形で衣類の扱いを国境なく伝える記号体系。数ミリのタグに洗濯・漂白・乾燥・アイロンの全指示を圧縮する、最小面積の情報デザイン。

特徴: たらい・三角・四角・丸／禁止の×と点の温度／数ミリへの圧縮／国際規格の統一
注意: 表面的な記号へ還元せず、時代・地域・技術・制作主体の文脈を確認する。