If you’ve been anywhere near hip-hop in the past 25 years, you’ve seen the Hieroglyphics logo before. Guaranteed. You know, the deadpanned circular face with three dots for eyes and a straight line for the mouth? Maybe you don’t remember the first time you saw it, because it’s just been everywhere. On a hoodie in the Bay Area. On a hat in New York City. A sticker on a bathroom wall in Chicago or even on a pair of skate shoes in Brazil. It’s global. And it’s come to symbolize much more than the Oakland-based Hieroglyphics crew that it represents. It’s become one of the rare symbols of hip-hop culture and style.

But how did an independent hip-hop crew formed in 1991 develop a ubiquitous logo that’s towered over most other hip-hop iconography since and still keep it fresh in 2020? The answer lies in an unwavering ethos of independence from the nine-member crew and in a fundamental design concept: Keep it simple.

“I was hella into counter-culture. ’60s rock…hippie era sh*t and funk. I was into that cause I was born in the ’70s,” says Del The Funky Homosapien, the eclectic Hieroglyphics MC and the artist behind the logo’s original design. “I wanted something like the yellow smiley face, but the way I drew it, with the third eye in the middle and a line instead of a smile, it indicated that you’re concentrating or something. I’m into graphic design and I wanted something simple like that. I doodled it on a napkin.”

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