Signal Flags
国際信号旗 / 1857– / Style / Symbol Systems
The flag system for spelling letters and set phrases at sea. High-contrast geometry chosen solely for distant legibility became a masterpiece collection of abstraction born from function.
High-contrast geometry / Designed for distance / One flag, one letter / Hoists strung to the masthead
Dictionary entry
- Best used for
- Comparing primary sources and canonical works · Extracting principles that transfer to other media
- Type
- Observe the letters, signs and scale of reference works
- Composition
- Extract the one structure that governs gaze and information
- Material
- Verify the materials and behaviors specific to era, region and process
- Caution
- Don't reduce it to surface signs. Verify the context of era, region, technology and makers.
- Further study
- the International Code of Signals / the Trafalgar signal / use alongside semaphore