Honorable Ordinaries
Donovan Ward
Symbology, throughout history, has maintained a volatile presence—a power struggle between the intentions of ownership and identification. Honorable Ordinaries draws from heraldry rooted in personal English and Scottish ancestry to foster a modern identity system—both as an act of historical acceptance and self-identification—removing itself from the influence of hierarchical structures.
Intentional interaction with an established identity system creates new methods of communal human understanding, potentially reshaping considerations of alternative organization. By crafting a unique combination of symbolic imagery through a languageless interface, individuals engage with the original system, assembling a personal associative symbol that takes the physical form of a sticker. Symbologies exist where they are wanted and needed; stickers ensure that "where" can be anywhere.
The original symbology system is accompanied by a three-banner series, offering deeper insight into the components and their interactions. Additionally, a duology of books demonstrates the magnitude of the system: the first serves as a space to collect unique sticker creations, while the second showcases fifty randomly generated symbolic instances, providing a glimpse into the over seventeen million possible combinations.
Each individual's significance, imbued into the symbology, can become an origin point for their own visual identity—encouraging introspection and a deeper understanding of the symbols that compose the self.