Group Black Paperclip

Introduction:

For our myth/belief, we have selected Horoscopes; an astrology system that is prevalent globally and has held sway in some manner since it’s traceable origins in Mesopotamia around the 3rd millennium BCE. The idea that constellations of stars, aligning with a person’s time and place of birth predetermine their decisions, luck, personality and interaction with others exists in a grey area between mild fun and hard belief. The popularity of horoscopes has seen a resurgence in current time with it’s incorporation in multiple media channels including newspapers, magazines, television and more recently on social media. It was observed through our inquiry that the level of belief varies between those who do not read or engage with it at all, to those who take it very seriously and believe there is merit to it’s claims. Most respondents however, engage with horoscopes as a fun part of pop culture and attribute only superficial merit to it.

The most popular version of horoscope, and the one most people are familiar with are ‘sun signs’. These represent the alignment of the sun with a section of the sky where the associated constellation is present. Sources note that while there are 13 such sections, from its first inception, 12 were used and they somewhat neatly fit the monthly calendar we use today. The resurgence of the 13th zodiac (a term used for the sun signs) is another popular myth and gained some relevance with a story by NASA on the subject but was publicly dismissed by them as not being relevant to the field of astronomy and reiterating that “astrology is not considered a science”.

Re-interpreting and testing:

Our group decided to take a deep dive into the current pop culture around the belief to create a mood board for each sign of the zodiac. Drawing from interviews, enthusiast internet forums and popular memes that were trending on the topic, we could chart a map of the 12 classifications incorporating image and text. On testing these boards, we found participants to almost universally, albeit humorously agree with the images and texts associated with the individual signs. Our intervention indicated that certain associations to individual horoscopes are shared across cultures and languages and that a majority of respondents had some basic knowledge on the subject. On the other hand, while the contemporary associations were agreed with, the symbols used to represent the zodiac did not share the same level of personal association. Many respondents shared that they did not understand or feel that the symbols represented their zodiac in a significant way.

The symbols representing the zodiac are derived from Greek antiquity and are representations of their specific constellations. In our testing however, these were seen as outdated and their relevance not particularly understood. We wanted to identify a universal language to communicate new symbols. This came in the form of emojis, a logographic system that is shared across digital platforms of all languages and regions of the world. We decided to go back to our mood boards, earlier interviewed participants and online forums, with the objective of creating contemporary and accessible symbols that resonated with our target audience. This led us to create a list of 3 emojis per sun sign. The goal however, was not to simply assign new symbols for present ideas but to allow people to choose symbols that resonated with them personally. In essence, assigning qualities people choose for themselves rather than qualities that have been chosen for them.