Genesis of Spikevision


The genesis of Spikevision can be traced back to December of 1997. I was in the midst of a messy divorce. I surmised that I had been seeing my now ex-wife through rose-colored glasses, and was in need of a different point of view. I pondered the opposite of rose-colored glasses, and came up with the concept of spike vision goggles. These goggles would penetrate the illusionary, happy, sine wave world that was placed before me. They would see the nasty, real, EKG-looking wave forms that constitute the way the world IS rather than the way it SEEMS. I was probably inspired by the sunglasses in John Carpenter's "They Live", but to tell the truth, I cannot remember if I was or not. I began referring to spike vision in my journal, where it became Spikevision, which I began to envision as some sort of product, with a 1950's style print add selling it as a commodity: Get Spikevision! It penetrates all chicanery and obfuscation. See the Truth today! etc. In order to sell something, it has to have a logo. The first sketch I came up with is represented below. Armed with this design to work from, I created the digital symbol/sigil that now represents the concept of SpikeVision. I call this the Eyecon. I have mused on the semiotic similarities between the Eyecon and the All-Seeing Eye of Masonic fame, but in memetic intent, they are diametrically opposed. One symbolizes oversight and surveillance from on high, while the other represents a now savvy everyman employing penetrating insight to pierce the veil of bullshit that the world is offering as reality.

The genesis of Spikevision can be traced back to December of 1997. I was in the midst of a messy divorce. I surmised that I had been seeing my now ex-wife through rose-colored glasses, and was in need of a different point of view. I pondered the opposite of rose-colored glasses, and came up with the concept of spike vision goggles. These goggles would penetrate the illusionary, happy, sine wave world that was placed before me. They would see the nasty, real, EKG-looking wave forms that constitute the way the world IS rather than the way it SEEMS. I was probably inspired by the sunglasses in John Carpenter's "They Live", but to tell the truth, I cannot remember if I was or not.

I began referring to spike vision in my journal, where it became Spikevision, which I began to envision as some sort of product, with a 1950's style print add selling it as a commodity: Get Spikevision! It penetrates all chicanery and obfuscation. See the Truth today! etc. In order to sell something, it has to have a logo. The first sketch I came up with is represented below.

Armed with this design to work from, I created the digital symbol/sigil that now represents the concept of SpikeVision. I call this the Eyecon. I have mused on the semiotic similarities between the Eyecon and the All-Seeing Eye of Masonic fame, but in memetic intent, they are diametrically opposed. One symbolizes oversight and surveillance from on high, while the other represents a now savvy everyman employing penetrating insight to pierce the veil of bullshit that the world is offering as reality.