Ticker Glyph Exploration — 2026-05-25

We've established that most pulse-event phenomena don't have single-character glyphs in scientific journals (papers use indices, acronyms, and descriptive text). So we're deliberately designing our own glyph language. Now that every chip carries its kind word as a label, the glyph doesn't have to be self-explanatory — but we can still pick the most evocative unicode for each.

This doc catalogues candidates for ALL 20 chip kinds, treats each equally, and gives a pick + reasoning per kind.

Conventions:

current = what we ship today
bold = my pick after reviewing alternatives
Reasoning notes the semantic load each glyph carries

quake

⏚ U+23DA — electrical earth/ground terminal. current. Reads as "earth/ground."
☷ U+2637 — I Ching trigram "Earth" (Kun). Three solid bars = literal "earth" in Chinese cosmology. Reads as layered strata.
⌇ U+2307 — wavy vertical line. Seismograph trace / S-wave.
≀ U+2240 — wreath product (math). No.

Pick: ⏚ stays. The IEC ground-terminal glyph IS the cleanest "this is earth" reading available in unicode. ☷ reads as horizontal bars unless you know the I Ching tradition. ⌇ reads as "vibration" generically (could be many things). The ground-terminal claim — that ⏚ represents "earth as a reference point" — happens to map well onto the seismological frame even though it's an electrical-engineering origin.

volcano

▲ U+25B2 — black up-pointing triangle. current. USGS topographic-map symbol for volcano location.
⏏ U+23CF — eject button. Conceptually clever (volcanoes eject material) but reads as a stereo button.
⛰ U+26F0 — mountain. Generic, not specifically volcanic.
▴ U+25B4 — small up-pointing triangle. Same shape, smaller.

Pick: ▲ stays. It IS the cartographic standard. The triangle reads as "mountain peak / vent" universally. ⏏ is too clever and reads as media-player UI. ⛰ doesn't differentiate from any other mountain.

storm

⛈︎ U+26C8 + VS15 — thundercloud with lightning and rain. current. Universal pictogram.
☁ U+2601 — cloud only. Loses the severity.
⛆ U+26C6 — rain only. Loses the thunder.
R̄ (R with overbar) — METAR synoptic chart symbol for thunderstorm. Not cleanly unicode.

Pick: ⛈︎ stays. The synoptic-chart "R̄" doesn't render cleanly in unicode (overbar combining character + Latin letter looks like a typo). ⛈ is the only available glyph that carries "cloud + thunder + rain" all at once. Sometimes the pictogram IS the right answer.

tornado

∇ U+2207 — nabla (math gradient operator). current. Triangle with internal horizontal bar.
▽ U+25BD — white down-pointing triangle. Cleaner funnel shape.
▼ U+25BC — solid down-pointing triangle. Heavier.
)( — synoptic-chart tornado symbol (back-to-back parens forming a funnel). Not cleanly unicode-single-char.

Pick: ▽ (white down-pointing triangle). The math-operator bar in ∇ muddies the funnel read. ▽ is a clean inverted-triangle funnel. The solid ▼ reads more as "downward indicator" than "funnel." The synoptic )( notation isn't a single character. ▽ wins on clarity.

hail

⚬ U+26AC — medium-small white circle. current. Single small stone.
⊙ U+2299 — circled dot. Hailstone with visible ice-nucleus / concentric ring structure.
∴ U+2234 — therefore (three-dot triangle). Scattered hailstones on the ground.
⁂ U+2042 — asterism (three asterisks). Scattered impact pattern.

Pick: ⊙ (circled dot). Hailstones in cross-section show alternating clear/opaque layers around an ice nucleus — the circled-dot rendering captures that internal structure. ⚬ is just "a small circle" with no specificity. ∴ / ⁂ read as scatter rather than singular stone.

wind

≋ U+224B — triple tilde. current. Reads as flow.
⇶ U+21F6 — three rightwards arrows. Gusty directional flow.
↝ U+219D — wavy rightwards arrow. Single curving flow line.
⤳ U+2933 — wavy arrow with hook. Variant.

Pick: ⇶ (three rightwards arrows). Wind is fundamentally directional — ≋ (static parallel tildes) reads as "fluid" but lacks directionality. ⇶ reads as "sustained gusts to the right." ↝ is single thin flow, less force. Meteorology wind barbs are also directional+intensity — ⇶ matches that intuition.

cyclone

⟲ U+27F2 — anticlockwise gapped circle arrow. current. WMO NH cyclone-rotation convention.
⊛ U+229B — circled asterisk. Spiral arms emanating from a center.
◉ U+25C9 — fisheye. The eye of the cyclone (satellite-imagery iconic).
⥁ U+2941 — anticlockwise semicircle arrow with arrow. Heavier variant of ⟲.

Pick: ⊛ (circled asterisk). From space, a tropical cyclone reads as "spiral arms emanating from a central eye" — ⊛ is the closest unicode rendering of that visual. ⟲ reads as "rotation" abstractly but isn't cyclone-specific (could be any rotating thing). ◉ captures only the eye, no spiral arms.

(Tradeoff: ⟲ carries the WMO synoptic-chart rotation-direction convention. If the convention matters more than the satellite-imagery feel, keep ⟲.)

flood

≈ U+2248 — approximately equal. current. Two stacked wavy lines = water surface with depth.
∿ U+223F — sine wave. Single curve, lower density.
⌣ U+2323 — smile arc. Puddle / single arc water surface.
⩪ U+2A6A — equal with wave above. Water rising above ground line.

Pick: ≈ stays. Two stacked waves read as "water surface with depth" — the most flood-like of the options. ∿ (single curve) is thinner, reads more like a generic wave. ⩪ is conceptually clever (water OVER ground) but renders inconsistently across fonts. ⌣ reads as smile, not water.

lightning

⚡︎ U+26A1 + VS15 — high-voltage warning sign. current. ISO safety glyph universally read as "bolt."
↯ U+21AF — downwards zigzag arrow. Literal lightning-bolt shape without the safety-sign baggage.
ϟ U+03DF — Greek koppa (archaic letter). Hand-drawn lightning shape.
⌁ U+2301 — electric arrow (IEC engineering symbol).

Pick: ↯ (downwards zigzag arrow). ⚡ is an electrical-safety warning sign (high-voltage); ↯ is actually a typographic lightning bolt with no safety-sign origin. More scientific feel, same instant recognition. ϟ is small and font-dependent. ⌁ is engineering-flavored and less iconic.

flare

☼︎ U+263C + VS15 — white sun with rays. current. Generic sun pictogram.
❂ U+2742 — circled open-centre eight-pointed star. Solar disk + radial eruption.
✺ U+273A — heavy eight-pointed teardrop asterisk. Pure radial burst (no disk).
☉ U+2609 — astronomical sun symbol (IAU). The Sun itself, not specifically a flare.
☀ U+2600 — black sun with rays. Heavier ☼.

Pick: ❂ (circled 8-pointed star). A solar flare is an eruption event from the Sun's surface — ❂ reads as "disk with radial burst emanating," which fits "flare" more precisely than "the Sun" (☉) or "burst alone" (✺). ☼ is too generic; it reads as "Sun" not "flare."

cme

◎ U+25CE — bullseye (two concentric circles). current. Expanding shells.
⨀ U+2A00 — n-ary circled dot. Heavier solar disk with origin point.
⊚ U+229A — circled ring. Similar to ◎ but with thinner inner ring.
❂ U+2742 — taken by flare pick.

Pick: ◎ stays. A CME is an expanding cloud of plasma moving outward from the corona — concentric circles read as "shells expanding from a central origin." ⨀ reads as "heavy origin point with disk" — fits the launch moment but not the propagation. ⊚ is close to ◎ but visually weaker. ◎ stays.

solar_wind

~ U+007E — ASCII tilde. current. Generic flow but plain ASCII (no special glyph weight).
↝ U+219D — wavy rightwards arrow. Directional curving flow.
⇝ U+21DD — rightwards squiggle arrow. Heavier wavy directional.
⤳ U+2933 — wavy arrow with hook. Variant.
∼ U+223C — math tilde. Cleaner ASCII tilde sibling.

Pick: ↝ (wavy rightwards arrow). Solar wind is a continuous directional stream of particles outward from the Sun — ↝ captures both wave-like flow AND direction. ~ is direction-less; ⇝ is heavier and reads more like "magic spell arrow." ↝ is the cleanest "this flows that way" glyph.

space_weather

⊗ U+2297 — circled times. current. Physics notation for "B-field into the page" — real scientific convention.
⊙ U+2299 — circled dot (B-field out of page) — taken by hail pick.
☊ U+260A — astrological ascending node. Looks like a horseshoe magnet.
⌇ U+2307 — wavy vertical line. Single magnetic field line.

Pick: ⊗ stays. Real physics convention for magnetic field direction. The fact that it represents "field into the page" rather than "geomagnetic storm" specifically is a fair tradeoff — there's no single-character glyph for geomagnetic activity in journals (they use Kp/Dst indices). ⊗ carries genuine scientific weight.

meteor

↘ U+2198 — south east arrow. current. Object descending diagonally.
➴ U+27B4 — heavy SE arrow with shaft tip downwards. Heavier streak shape.
⤓ U+2913 — downwards arrow with double horizontal stroke. "Down to floor."
⇂ U+21C2 — downwards harpoon. Vertical streak.
⥽ U+297D — fish tail / harpoon end. Reads as trailing streak.

Pick: ➴ (heavy SE arrow with shaft tip downwards). Meteors enter the atmosphere on a steep diagonal — the heavier ➴ reads as "fast diagonal streak" better than the thin ↘. The shaft-tip-down shape mimics the head-down orientation of a meteor in flight. ⤓ / ⇂ are vertical (meteors are rarely vertical from observer POV).

fireball

☄︎ U+2604 + VS15 — astronomical comet glyph. current. Real IAU symbol (closest astronomical glyph family — bright object with trailing tail).
✦ U+2726 — black four-pointed star. Bright flash pinpoint.
✷ U+2737 — shadowed white star. Star with depth.
❃ U+2743 — heavy teardrop-spoked pinwheel asterisk. Radial flash.

Pick: ☄︎ stays. Real IAU astronomical glyph. While "comet" and "fireball" are different phenomena (comet = orbital body with tail, fireball = bright meteor entry), ☄ is the closest astronomical-family glyph for "bright burning object in sky." The four-pointed-star alternatives lose the directional / trailing-tail aspect.

forbush

☢︎ U+2622 + VS15 — radiation hazard trefoil. current. ISO 21482 safety pictogram for ionizing radiation. NOT a science symbol — it's a hazard sign.
⚛ U+269B — atom symbol. Real nuclear/particle-physics glyph.
⤓ U+2913 — downwards arrow with double horizontal stroke. Forbush = sudden DECREASE in count rate.
↓ U+2193 — plain downwards arrow.

Pick: ⚛ (atom symbol). A Forbush decrease is a cosmic-ray particle physics phenomenon (sudden drop in GCR count rate when an ICME passes Earth, scattering particles away). ⚛ is the canonical particle-physics glyph. ☢ is a workplace radiation-safety sign — wrong semantic family entirely. ⤓ captures "decrease" but loses the particle-physics framing.

This is the single highest-honesty upgrade in the palette.

wildfire

🜂︎ U+1F702 + VS15 — alchemical fire (△ with horizontal cross-bar). current. Historical-scientific glyph (alchemy = proto-chemistry).
△ U+25B3 — white up-pointing triangle. Just the fire shape without the cross-bar.
Δ U+0394 — Greek capital delta. Same triangle, mathematical context.
(no good emoji-free fire alternatives in unicode)

Pick: 🜂︎ stays. Alchemical fire is the closest thing fire has to a "real" scientific symbol — alchemy was the pre-modern scientific tradition for chemistry, and the four-element alchemical glyphs (🜂 fire, 🜁 air, 🜃 earth, 🜄 water) are recognized scientific notation in the history of chemistry. Pairs symmetrically with our air_quality pick below.

air_quality

⚗︎ U+2697 + VS15 — alembic (alchemical distillation apparatus). current. Generic chemistry pictogram.
🜁 U+1F701 — alchemical AIR (∇ with horizontal cross-bar). Pairs symmetrically with 🜂 wildfire's alchemical fire.
⌬ U+232C — benzene ring. Organic chemistry, tilted toward pollutants/aromatics.
◍ U+25CD — circle with vertical fill. Smog / haze visual.

Pick: 🜁 (alchemical air). The alchemical-air glyph is the four-element companion to alchemical fire (🜂 wildfire) — both are recognized historical-scientific symbols. Switching ⚗ → 🜁 gives the biosphere/land family visual symmetry (wildfire = inverted triangle pointing up with bar; air_quality = inverted triangle pointing down with bar). Plus 🜁 directly means "air" rather than "chemistry-apparatus."

alert

⚠︎ U+26A0 + VS15 — ISO 7010 warning sign. current. Universal hazard pictogram.
❗ U+2757 — heavy exclamation mark (emoji-presentation).
‼ U+203C — double exclamation mark.
⛔ U+26D4 — no entry sign.

Pick: ⚠︎ stays. ISO 7010 warning sign is the universal "this is an alert" pictogram across every UI on every platform. Substitutes (❗ ‼) read as "punctuation emphasis" rather than "hazard category." Don't break what works.

system

✓ U+2713 — checkmark. current. Reads as "approved / OK."
⚙ U+2699 — gear. Reads as "system / mechanism / settings."
▪ U+25AA — small black square. Generic system indicator.
❖ U+2756 — black diamond minus white X. No.

Pick: ⚙ (gear). system chips are internal heartbeats / debug pings — the gear glyph reads as "system event" semantically. ✓ reads as "test passed / approved" which doesn't match what these chips represent. Gear is the conventional "system" glyph in every UI library.

Summary of changes proposed

If shipping a v2 palette in one batch, 9 changes + 11 stays:

Changes:

tornado ∇ → ▽ (cleaner funnel)
hail ⚬ → ⊙ (ice nucleus inside)
wind ≋ → ⇶ (directional gusts)
cyclone ⟲ → ⊛ (spiral arms from center — satellite-imagery feel)
lightning ⚡ → ↯ (literal bolt shape, not safety sign)
flare ☼ → ❂ (disk + radial eruption)
solar_wind ~ → ↝ (directional flow)
meteor ↘ → ➴ (heavy streak)
forbush ☢ → ⚛ (atom — particle physics, not radiation safety)
air_quality ⚗ → 🜁 (alchemical air — pairs with 🜂 wildfire fire)
system ✓ → ⚙ (system event, not "approved")

Stays:

quake ⏚ (cleanest "earth/ground")
volcano ▲ (USGS standard)
storm ⛈ (no better unicode for "thunder + cloud + rain")
flood ≈ (best water-surface read)
cme ◎ (expanding shells)
space_weather ⊗ (real physics convention)
fireball ☄ (real IAU astronomical glyph)
wildfire 🜂 (alchemical fire — pairs with new air_quality 🜁)
alert ⚠ (universal warning)

(Count above is 11 changes + 9 stays; the headline number is "more than half the palette improves on legibility / honesty.")

Honesty notes

Of the 20 chip kinds, only 2 have glyphs with genuine claim to scientific-notation status today (⊗ space_weather, ☄ fireball — and ⚛ forbush if adopted). The rest are evocative pictograms in service of a glyph language we're designing ourselves.
The strongest case for replacement is forbush ☢ → ⚛: we're currently using a radiation hazard safety sign for a particle-physics measurement. That's miscalibrated.
The strongest case for visual symmetry is air_quality ⚗ → 🜁: wildfire and air_quality are the two biosphere-family chips; both becoming alchemical four-element glyphs (🜂 fire + 🜁 air) gives the family internal consistency.