Icon Safety Check
Owner: Calculon (Designer)
Confidence: low
Created: 2026-05-25
Purpose
Verify icon designs don't accidentally resemble hate symbols or extremist imagery before shipping. Small sizes (16px favicon) are where ambiguity hides most.
When to Apply
- Before finalizing any new icon/logo design
- When evaluating icon concepts that use letterforms, runes, or geometric patterns
- As part of icon spec review
Steps
1. Pre-Design Awareness
Avoid these patterns without explicit safety review: - Double-letter monograms (especially S, H, N) - Single lightning bolts / rune-like strokes - Certain cross variants (Iron Cross, Celtic Cross in certain contexts) - Sun-wheel / spoke patterns - Hand gesture shapes
2. Post-Design Verification
Multi-size render test: - 16px (favicon) — most critical, ambiguity peaks here - 32px, 64px, 128px, 512px
Transformation tests: - Rotate 90°, 180°, 270° — no problematic shapes should emerge - Mirror horizontally and vertically - Invert colors (what does negative space reveal?)
Reference check: - ADL Hate on Display database: https://www.adl.org/hate-symbols - Similar resources for regional/cultural symbols
3. Documentation
Include in icon spec: - "Silhouette Safety Check ✓" section - List what was verified and against what references - Note any considerations for future modifications
Example
See docs/processed/icon-spec.md — Section 2 "Silhouette Safety Check" documents the robot-with-binoculars verification.
Promotion Criteria
Confidence → medium after: - 2+ icon designs successfully use this pattern - 1+ actual ambiguity caught and fixed
References
- Branding-safety directive:
.squad/decisions/inbox/copilot-directive-icon-ss-association.md - Icon spec with example:
docs/processed/icon-spec.md