This month’s Bloggers For Peace Challenge is about art. One of the prompts was to “create a piece of art that brings peace to the world and post it on your blog.”

I’ve been ruminating on this topic for a couple of days, trying to think of what I could do for it and I’ve been coming up empty. You see, I really am not fond of the tree-huggin’, granola-crunchin’, free love, flower power, hippy-dippy set that looks like it belongs in the 1960s. I don’t think this is relevant anymore:

That is not me. In fact, if I stumbled across that dude in the park, I’d be severely tempted to kick sand in his face. I wouldn’t, but I’d be tempted.

Not only am I not really down with the hippies, but I’m a graphic designer and I absolutely abhor hippy design like the peace symbol… Oh, how I loathe the peace symbol:

It hurts my eyes. That is just godawful. Why does peace have to be so ugly? Can’t it be peaceful without spewing forth every color into a pile of dreck? Can’t we have peace that’s visually interesting and not in an “OMG, I can’t stop looking at that car crash” sort of way?

Don’t even get me started on the damn dove with the olive branch…

What the hell do doves know about peace and what does an olive branch have to do with anything? Yeah, yeah, I know, the olive branch is an historical peace symbol, but seriously, the ancient Greeks were some warrin’ bastards. I don’t think we should take their advice on peace. And doves are just fancy pigeons. Have you ever tried to talk to a pigeon? They know naught about peace.

I’m going to combine two prompts into one here. Kozo’s monthly prompt for Bloggers for Peace and Rarasaur’s Prompts For The Promptless. This week’s PFTP topic is “remake: to make anew or in a different form.” I’m going to remake the peace symbol.

What can I make that isn’t a dove, olive branch, peace symbol or a dirty hippy? I think the finger peace sign is alright. You know, this one:

I think that’s the least annoying sign of peace. Besides, unlike the peace symbol, you can make this one with a hand. So, let’s work with that.

Hm. It’s certainly not very hippy-dippy, but maybe the flames aren’t very peaceful. Let’s try again:

Hm. I think the red is a little too communist, like we should all be singing the International workers song. Let’s try green:

That’s a little too Saint Patrick’s Day. It looks like there should be a leprechaun in the background trying to steal me Lucky Charms. How about blue?

Yes, that’s better. Blue it is. And since the peace sign means different things in different cultures, here’s a plain old peace symbol:

And I suppose since not everyone speaks English…

There. I think I’ve covered all bases now. New peace symbols for all hand drawn by yours truly with a custom font. You’re welcome. 🙂