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I saw a symbol like this, and didn't know what it was called or what existing associations it might have:

circle divided into quarters with upper left and lower right filled

It seems like a pretty easy question to answer by looking in a symbol dictionary or an online "similar images" search. I figured it was probably a wingding or a webding. But nothing showed up. The closest thing I thought of (just from memory) is the BMW logo, which is supposedly an allusion to an airplane propeller.

Things I found strange:

Using this as a case study, what is an effective research process for looking into the existing meanings of a symbol you might be using in a drawing or icon?

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interesting question, I tried searching by shape (triangles, quarter, circle, etc) and nothing. Although it's different, at first glance it reminded me of a nuclear symbol, but maybe it's just me and it also depends on context... – Yisela♦ Dec 5 '11 at 17:12

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I'm not sure of a general library, but this is the symbol for centre of gravity in engineering. You also see it used on crash test dummies and vehicles, where apparently it's a danger symbol.

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I am dubious about that answer in the link you provide. Either a danger symbol or a vector mark. Big difference and indicates an uninformed guess. My uninformed guess would be a registration mark. – horatio Dec 6 '11 at 21:59
Me too, to be honest, but there's precious little out there on the origin of its use in crash testing. Those that do mention anything tend to have it as a danger or caution sign. I wonder if it started being used to mark the centre of gravity of various parts of the dummy, but that's pure speculation. – Iain Hallam Dec 7 '11 at 1:51
The link gives the name for reference, if you google crash test symbol you get the exact same one. Not the most positive connotation! – Yisela♦ Dec 7 '11 at 10:57
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Yes, I used to be into model aircraft, and it's used all the time on plans for those so you know where the model should balance. And its use in crash testing is just one of those things that you pick up - I've seen various videos of cars being smashed, and there's often these symbols on the dummies or on parts of the cars themselves. – Iain Hallam Dec 10 '11 at 9:23
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Yes, this is not actually a symbol. In technical testing using video recording, it's called a calibration mark, position mark, or registration mark. – TehMacDawg Nov 29 '12 at 15:33
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[...] what is an effective research process for looking into the existing meanings of a symbol you might be using in a drawing or icon?

If you don't recognize the symbol and you can't easily locate it using methods like Googling for "symbol" or "symbols" or using other reference material you have available, then perhaps the symbol has no traditional, widely-recognized meaning at all. If you see the symbol displayed somewhere, I would try to find out who created it and ask them what their intended meaning was.

Edit: It seems that asking a few thousand people on a site like this also wouldn't hurt :)

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