2026/08/19
Word count: ~400
Reading time: ~3 minutes
29th of July, 2017, I began the process of designing an otherhearted symbol. It wasn't a particularly organized attempt - I was doodling in my sketchbook during a particularly boring math class at the adult education center, and a symbol just kinda came to me:
When I got home, I made the symbol (as well as a few other symbols) in a freeware program called Photofiltre. The following symbols were considered, as well as one that looked like the diamond-heart, but with a five pointed star instead of a diamond (the graphic of which has sadly been lost to time):
I shared them on tumblr with the following caption:
For a while I’ve been thinking that the otherhearted community needs a proper symbol, but I have a hard time coming up with anything aside from these two.
The first - the one with the rhombus - is meant to represent that our heartedtype is within our heart. The other is meant to represent that we’re linked to our heartedtype. The circles are there to make them look nicer when compared to the septagram and theta-delta.
They’re just quick sketches of course, and I’d love to hear any critique or other ideas before I move on to other sites with these. If you don’t have any critique or ideas, just telling me which one you prefer would be great!
Most people already preferred the diamond-heart, but I still ran a poll from the 6th of August to the 12th of August (advertised on tumblr and therian-guide), where this version of the diamond-heart won, with 29% of the votes, out of 11 different options:
Unfortunately, the full poll results have not been archived, so all we have to go off is what I posted directly on my tumblr blog.
It seems like the community is overall happy with this symbol. By December 2017, it was already showing up on pride flags, graphics, and in symbol compilations. I made it clear from the start, that while I enjoy being credited as the creator of the symbol, I do not claim any copyright over it. It's my gift to the community, and anyone can do anything they want with it (including rejecting it!). So I'm more than happy to see how people have taken to it over the years :)