Universal Naturist Symbol
This is the new Naturist Symbol! Officially voted for by many naturists on Twitter. With special thanks to BjörC./TeamNaturist for organizing the voting and Central IL Nude Dude for creating the chosen #NaturistSymbol.
The source files are free to download from the website www.naturistsymbol.org.
These files can be used by anyone spreading the joys and benefits of naturism/nudism throughout the world, also for commercial purposes. For free! (source)
What is the purpose of the Naturist Symbol?
To make naturists visible. In a clothed world it is hard to recognize a fellow naturist. This neutral symbol is safe to use. Nobody will be offended by a picture of sun and water. And it is a good conversation starter when people see you wearing this symbol on a t-shirt or a cap.
But nobody knows it!
Not yet. Give it time to become adopted and recognized. A few decades ago the rainbow flag was just a flag with many colors. Now all over the world associate it with the LGBT+ community. And with visibility come acceptance and legal rights. In my ideal world all are free to wear or not to wear what they want. But in a world where nudity is often illegal, we still have long way to go.
Other naturist symbols
In Europe this symbol is quite well known. Although it is a beautiful design, it never worked for me. A perfect-body-woman does not represent naturism. Important in naturism is body acceptance. And let's be honest, that's not what this image shows. And as a gay man, I don't put a sticker of a woman on my car.
The INF-FNI logo is also quite well known, but can't be used by commercial companies that are not a member this organization. The new naturist symbol can be used by anybody who wants to promote naturism!
What can you do?
Start using the symbol today! Add it to your profile picture on social media. Use it if you run a company. And spread the word, so all naturists and nudists in de world soon know the Naturist Symbol.
The official website of the Universal Naturist Symbol: https://naturistsymbol.org
I love the new symbol and am shocked by the dismissive tone of the posted criticisms. Let’s be grateful for the hard work that went into this! Ignore the crabby old men who have nothing to offer except grumbling.
Agree fully with what Matt and Tom wrote. Symbols used to signify an organisations, groups, or other collective bodies aren’t plucked out of thin air. Iconography is a specialist skill that graphic designers study at university to understand what goes into making a good, effective design for something like this. If you just ask lay people to come up with designs, the result is exactly what you’ve ended up with, which is a nice enough bit of clipart, but a BAD symbol for naturism.
Ultimately, you need to represent naturism as a political ideology and movement. As someome stated, naturism means something different to everyone—and certainly not sun and sea by default, which is a tiny subset of naturists who prioritise this—but whatever it means to anyone, it will necessarily be an act that is unlawful in many places, and socially condemned by most. Therefore, it is rooted in politics for every person who wants the right to live openly as naturists, even if they themselves aren’t politically driven or activists.
Seriously, a symbol of a dick would fulfil a lot more essential characteristics for an effective naturism symbol since it illustrates the absurdity of the outlawing of naturism for a male, as it is the sole discriminator that makes one man law-abiding whilst his genital area remains covered, and another man a criminal should his penis be visible to others.
Anyway, you really should retract the naturist symbol that you yourself have agreed is actually a pile of crap, but for some reason still continue to push it into use. And don’t use the word “official”…you are not, or are you associated with, any regulatory body governing naturists or naturism, and liars don’t tend to make good candidates for spearheading a political movement.
Shockingly, in the UK, public nudity, and therefore naturism, are not, in fact, illegal. But no one actually realises this, and police have made arrests in the past only to be unable to bring a charge to most except for flashers and couples who were copulating in public. And even if Britons were more aware, half the country will just associate naturism with a perversion of European influence that will be used to justify Brexit all the more.
Been here before. A few years ago a design was chosen and I purchased a tote bag and t-shirt. It looked more medical than naturist. Something like the outline of a nude person in a circle. It didn’t catch on either…
Nudism means so many different things to each of us. Not sure a solitary symbol would ever be adopted.
It definitely reminds me of a nasty cheep package holiday too.
I won’t be using it either.
I have read all the comments above and noted all opinions. Doesn’t the success of this depends on us? If no one uses it, for sure it will die soon.
I totally agree
Honestly, while it’s a perfectly fine piece of graphic work, I don’t think it’s going to take off. For several reasons….
– It’s an attempt to come up with a different solution to a problem that was already solved almost 40 years ago, with the “skinny dipper flag” which is already well recognized and meets the important criteria (distinctive from a distance, trivially easy to draw, unique, fits with existing signal schemes) better than this does.
– A few hundred active Twitter users do not necessarily represent the preferences of a millions-strong community that, to be honest, can’t even agree on any aspect of its own definition other than “yeah, let’s not wear clothing”.
– It was chosen from a pretty sparse set of submissions.
– When you search for it by image, you get a lot of generic clip art; it’s not unique or distinctive. Very similar symbols are already being used in hundreds of other, unrelated places for unrelated purposes.
Hence my skepticism. If it does indeed become popular and recognized? Great! I just don’t think that’s likely.
Thank you for your comments Matt.
I did not know the “skinny dipper flag”. A search for the origin of the skinny dipper flag came up with an interesting article. And I have to agree that this flag is better than the symbol that was chosen by the Twitter community. But why was this skinny dipper flag not adopted by the naturist community?
And I agree with the other points you make. The reason that I promote the new naturist symbol is because there was not any (to my knowledge). But apparently there was…
the symbol reminds me of a nasty cheep package holiday logo and does nothing to suggest that it is a symbol for naturism. it also feels dated and old. A symbol from the 1990’s. Not something that I wish to be associated with.
I can’t see it taking off.
None of the designs would have impressed me.
Logos need to stand out and be instantly recognised. This does not tick those boxes.
Please take this back to the drawing board and come up with something fresh.
Can only subscibe what tom wrote!
Apparently many saw it differently: “This is the new Naturist Symbol! Officially voted for by many naturists on Twitter.”
Although I hear you, I am inclined to use it. Hopefully it does take off after all.
Perhaps in a year or so, we can reflect and decide whether this logo was a good choice or not. And if not, then opt for another one.
That certainly is a good idea. And I see already some people who are willing to participate in the next voting (if there will be any….)
There also is the triangle symbol with a nude man in the sun
Yes, I have seen it from a jewelry maker. But as far as I know, it has never been used in print as a naturist symbol.
Please tell me from where you can buy those a triangle with a man or woman in the sun ?
I yeard to buy those since I was 16 y. old. That has past now about 34 years now.
Thanks om forhand.
Best regards
Carina Molin
Rönninge,in Sweden.
You almost found it! This is their website: https://naturistensymbool.nl/