Discover Your Ikigai: Unveiling the True Symbol of Happy Creativity
It’s black and white and a little blurry.
The most popular Venn diagram for ikigai, while brilliantly simple, is rife with controversy. Many say it doesn’t accurately represent the meaning of ikigai.
Logo design being one of the things I love to do, I have spent years mulling over what might be a better visual identity for ikigai.
Today, I came across an article about Ken Mogi’s five pillars of ikigai. One of the pillars of ikigai is sustainability and harmony. It was then that I realised that the perfect symbol already exists.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd4f6fe72-f125-4abc-9f64-8747c4d4888b_953x950.jpeg)
The quintessential icon for harmony is the yin yang symbol. If you look closely, it fits. It makes sense, it’s not entirely about staying at the intersection. It’s about finding the balance.
The white half (yang) is what love to do; the black dot within it is what we do well — our innate gifts. The black half (yin) is what rewards us — financially or creatively; the white dot rep…
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