Stop! Go! (Think outside the box!)

THE COURSE “Graphic Design: Visual Form,” taught by lecturer David Reinfurt. It’s one of four graphic-design classes at Princeton, which introduced the ­subject in its visual arts program three years ago.

THE ASSIGNMENT To design concise graphic symbols that convey “stop” and “go” ­without using existing linguistic or graphic conventions. So, for example, the students were not allowed to use the octagon shape of the stop sign to indicate “stop.” It is, Reinfurt said, “a deceptively difficult task.”

THE RESULTS Below are examples of the students’ work. Which mean “stop” and which mean “go”? The answers are at the ­bottom of the page.

Answers: For Tyrell, “stop” is on the left; for Meng and Miller, it is on the right.