Chapter 4 – Symbolism and subtext without cliche

Chapter 4: Symbolism & Subtext without Cliché

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Symbolism & Subtext Without Cliché

Advanced Narrative Costuming – Time Layers, Culture & Voice

Costumes are some of the most powerful symbolic tools in visual storytelling. Before a character speaks, their clothing is already whispering (or shouting) about who they are, where they come from, and what they might do next. For concept artists, that symbolic channel is both an opportunity and a trap: handled well, it delivers rich subtext; handled carelessly, it collapses into cliché.

This article will walk you through how to design symbolism and subtext in costume work that feels specific, grounded, and fresh—without relying on tired tropes. We’ll frame everything through three lenses:

Time layers – how costume symbolism accumulates and evolves over a character’s life and story.
Culture – how in-world beliefs, norms, and histories shape meaning.
Voice – how individual personality and narrative role inflect those meanings.

We’ll speak equally to concept artists (who set up the visual language) and production artists (who must preserve and clarify that language through build, optimization, and polish).

1. What Symbolism in Costume Actually Does

Symbolism in costume isn’t just about “putting a motif on a jacket.” At its best, it does three things at once:

Compresses backstory into visuals
The viewer should feel that the costume has a history: relationships, events, and beliefs encoded into shapes, materials, and wear.
Signals current emotional and narrative state
The same garment can look protective, oppressive, or ceremonial depending on context, styling, and condition.
Hints at future direction
Subtle changes to costume elements can foreshadow arc shifts: alliances, betrayals, power gains, or losses.

When you treat symbolism as a timeline instead of a single icon, cliché has a harder time sticking. “Skull = death” becomes “This skull was carved by their grandmother, chipped during a failed ritual, and restrung after they survived exile.” Same motif, different depth.

2. Recognizing Costume Clichés (and Why They Happen)

Before we build better symbolism, it helps to see the patterns you want to avoid—or at least transform.

Common costume clichés:

The “edgy rogue” covered in skulls, chains, and black leather for no clear in-world reason.
The “pure healer” in spotless white robes with generic floral embroidery.
The “strong female warrior” whose armor symbolism says “fanservice” more than “function, culture, or narrative.”
The “mysterious mage” whose symbolism is just random runes with no coherent language or tradition.
The “evil empire” where every symbol is spikes, skulls, red-and-black, and nothing else.

These clichés often emerge because:

We design from stereotype instead of system.
We import genre shorthand (skulls = death, roses = love, blue = calm) without asking how the world itself would encode those ideas.
We stop at first-read.
We optimize for “instant readability” and never add a second or third layer that rewards closer inspection.
We separate costume from culture.
The outfit doesn’t feel like it came from anywhere: no shared motifs, no manufacturing logic, no religious or political roots.
We don’t plan for time.
Symbolism is glued on, not grown over the character’s life and story; everything looks designed yesterday.

As a concept or production artist, your goal is not to avoid recognizable symbols altogether, but to root them deeply in the world’s time, culture, and voice so they feel inevitable instead of generic.

3. Time Layers: Let Symbols Age, Accrete, and Evolve

Think of every costume as a stratigraphy of time—like layers of rock. Each layer contains symbols that arrived at different moments in the character’s life.

3.1 The Deep Past: Ancestral & Mythic Layers

These are symbols that predate the character:

Clan marks and heraldry
Repeated across banners, armor, jewelry, and textiles. On costume, they might appear as a simplified patch version, or a worn engraving, hinting at centuries of use.
Religious or mythic motifs
Abstracted animals, constellations, geometric diagrams, or sacred numerology. Their forms may echo architecture or ritual objects.
Old regulations or taboos
For example, a law that certain classes cannot wear metal above the waist. Production artists might reflect this in material choices: wood, bone, ceramic, or hardened leather where other factions use metal.

Concept side:
When you create an emblem or pattern, sketch its older forms too. What did it look like 200 years ago? What materials were available then? You’ll discover weathered, simplified variants for background NPCs and ornate versions for ceremonial costumes.

Production side:
Preserve these layers in LOD and material decisions. Even when texture resolution drops, ensure the core shape language of these ancestral motifs stays legible: keep the silhouette of the emblem; let micro-embroidery fall away.

3.2 The Personal Past: Life Events & Relationships

This is where symbolism gets specific and emotionally charged:

Keepsakes and gifts
A ribbon inherited from a parent, re-dyed multiple times; a medal re-pinned onto new uniforms; a charm tied repeatedly after being broken.
Scars and repairs
Patch shapes and stitch direction can reference specific events: a jagged sash over the heart where the character was once wounded; a different color thread used when a friend mended their coat.
Progress badges
Ranks, tattoos, or bead counts that track victories, failed attempts, or years of service.

Concept side:
Document the timeline of modifications to a key garment. Even simple notes—“Season 1: ripped at left sleeve. Season 2: patched with borrowed fabric from ally’s cloak.”—will help you avoid random damage and create meaningful visual storytelling.

Production side:
Work with tech art and animation to decide which of these personal symbols need variant meshes or texture sets (e.g., pre-patch, mid-patch, post-patch) and which can be handled as decal overlays or material swaps across progression.

3.3 The Present: Styling as Real-Time Subtext

Even without adding new items, you can alter meaning through how costume is worn:

A high collar is loosened after a crisis, signaling vulnerability.
A ceremonial sash is tied in haste—wrinkled and asymmetrical—hinting at inner conflict.
Sleeves are rolled up on a noble’s outfit, blurring class boundaries during a shared struggle.

Concept side:
Design a few styling states per key costume: pristine, field-ready, improvised, grieving, celebratory. Symbolism isn’t just in assets; it’s in pose, drape, and styling choices.

Production side:
Support these states with blend shapes, cloth sim parameters, or swappable parts (e.g., sleeve up/down, collar open/closed). Name these states clearly in your documentation so animators and narrative designers can call them at key story beats.

3.4 The Future: Foreshadowing Through Design

Symbols can hint where the story is going:

Unused attachment points for future medals, trophies, or relics.
Color accents that match a faction the character hasn’t joined yet.
Subtle motif echoes between a protagonist’s outfit and a later mentor or antagonist.

Concept side:
When designing early-game outfits, plant latent motifs you know will pay off later: a baby version of a future crest; a simplified version of a future crown.

Production side:
Flag these latent motifs in your handoff notes. When future skins, upgrades, or narrative variants are commissioned, those early seeds will guide consistent evolution.

4. Culture: Make Symbols Diegetic, Not Imported

To avoid cliché, root symbolism inside the world’s own logic instead of importing modern or genre clichés wholesale.

4.1 Build a Symbolic Ecosystem, Not Isolated Icons

Instead of designing a single “cool emblem,” think about:

System-wide rules
How do rank, profession, and social role alter the emblem? More points on the star? More segments in a circle? Change of background color?
Medium-specific variations
The same symbol carved in stone, embroidered in silk, stamped in wax, tattooed on skin. Each has constraints that affect shape language, line weight, and detail.
Regional dialects
Border factions might misinterpret or remix symbols from a dominant culture, leading to hybrid motifs.

Concept side:
Create a symbol sheet that shows the core motif across mediums and regions. This will guide consistency for both hero and background characters.

Production side:
Ensure the game’s shader library and material catalog support these variations. A motif that exists only as high-res embroidery but can’t be represented in low-poly decal form may get dropped or misrepresented.

4.2 Avoid Stereotyping Real Cultures

Drawing from real-world cultures can enrich design, but it’s easy to slip into flattening.

Safer, richer practices:

Synthesize from multiple sources
Instead of copying a single real-world pattern, blend structural ideas from several, and change enough details that it truly belongs to your fictional culture.
Anchor meaning in in-world history
Don’t just lift a symbol’s real-world meaning. Decide how it originated in your world—a founder’s story, an ecological feature, a myth.
Be specific, not “ethnic”
Avoid using motifs merely to signal “exotic.” Ask: What does this mean to the wearer? When and why do they use it? What taboos surround it?

Production side:
Be vigilant about reuse of patterned assets. Duplicating a motif meant for a sacred priesthood onto a random marketplace NPC, just because the trim looks nice, can unintentionally flatten the world’s symbolic logic.

4.3 Class, Labor, and Symbolism

Symbols don’t only belong to elites with fancy crests.

Working-class symbolism
Tool marks, stitch types, safety colors, guild tags burned into leather aprons, color-coded handkerchiefs indicating shift or role.
Illicit or countercultural marks
Secret codes in ribbon knots, inverted pins, or the way a scarf is worn.

Concept side:
Design micro-systems for these: e.g., three knot styles that mean apprentice/journeyman/master in a tailoring guild.

Production side:
When optimizing NPC costumes, these micro-symbols are at risk of being culled. Decide which tiny details have big narrative weight and keep them even in simplified LODs—perhaps as color blocks or silhouette cues instead of intricate geometry.

5. Voice: Turning Systems into Individual Expression

Time and culture provide the grammar of symbolism. Voice is how an individual “speaks” that language.

5.1 Character Voice in Symbol Choices

Ask for each character:

What symbols do they embrace?
Do they proudly display rank emblems, or hide them?
What symbols do they reject or subvert?
An heir might wear their crest upside down; a priest might line their robe with forbidden street colors.
How consistent are they?
A meticulous character will repeat a motif across accessories; a chaotic one will mix un-matched symbols collected impulsively.

Concept side:
Create a “symbol palette” per major character: 3–5 motifs, shapes, or materials they repeatedly gravitate toward. Use these as a constraint when adding new props or variants.

Production side:
In skin libraries, keep the character’s symbol palette recognizable even when themes change (holiday outfits, crossovers). Swap context, not core vocabulary.

5.2 Emotional State and Subtext

Voice also shows up in how clearly a character uses symbolism:

A confident leader might wear bold, unambiguous symbols of status.
A conflicted character might mix incompatible motifs—military badges on a pacifist’s cloak.
A character in denial might overcompensate with extreme, performative symbols (too many medals, hyper-ornate purity motifs).

These choices create rich subtext. The viewer may not consciously decode every element, but the emotional impression lands.

5.3 Ensemble Voice: Contrast and Harmony

Think of the cast as a choir of costumes:

Some characters harmonize: shared motifs or colors showing allegiance.
Others deliberately clash: symbol systems that visually “argue” with each other.

Concept side:
Design lineups where you intentionally tune the symbolic relationships: mentor/student, rival/rival, spy/target.

Production side:
In crowd scenes and gameplay, ensure team-based readability doesn’t erase these relationships. You might keep shared silhouettes or color blocks while letting micro-level symbols differentiate voice.

6. Techniques for Subtle, Non-Cliché Symbolism

Here are concrete techniques to keep your symbolism layered and fresh.

6.1 Start with Function, Then Add Meaning

Begin with practical costume needs:

Protection, warmth, storage, mobility.
Required uniform components (safety gear, insignia, coverage rules).

Then ask: What symbolic choices could ride on top of that function?

A protective shoulder pad becomes engraved with a guardian animal from the character’s hometown.
A mandatory ID badge gets wrapped in a personal charm.

Because function came first, the result feels less like arbitrary decoration and more like lived-in personalization.

6.2 Use Shape and Structure, Not Just Icons

Symbols don’t have to be literal pictures.

Silhouette symbolism
Triangular, aggressive upper silhouettes vs rounded, nurturing forms; vertical vs horizontal emphasis.
Construction logic
Radial seams echoing a sun cult; chevron layering reflecting a hierarchy or ladder.
Negative space
Gaps in armor forming an emblem only when the character strikes a certain pose.

These structural choices are harder to reduce to cliché because they embed meaning into the whole design, not just a stamp.

6.3 Limit Your Motif Count

Too many symbols read as noise.

Choose one primary motif (e.g., an hourglass shape for a time-obsessed faction).
Add one or two secondary motifs that relate logically (e.g., broken circles for rebellion against fate).

Use scale and placement, not more motifs, to increase complexity.

6.4 Contrast Outer Symbolism with Inner Truth

Subtext often lies in mismatch:

A character in a “hero uniform” who has subtly altered one part in defiance.
A villain dressed in saint-like purity motifs; the dissonance makes them more unsettling than typical “spiky evil” gear.

Deliberate contrast is an easy way to dodge cliché while still using recognizable visual cues.

6.5 Design for Multiple Read Distances

Think about symbolism that unfolds across distances:

Far read (gameplay) – Big blocks of color and silhouette show faction, class, or mood.
Mid read (dialogue, key art) – Repeated shapes and motifs become clear.
Close read (cinematics, promo, skins) – Micro-level etchings, stitching patterns, and personal charms reward attentive viewers.

Assign symbolic weight accordingly: large-scale symbols should be clear and simple; nuanced personal subtext can live in the micro layer.

7. Concept vs Production: Keeping Symbolism Alive Through the Pipeline

Complex symbolism dies easily if it isn’t clearly communicated and protected.

7.1 For Concept Artists

Document intent, not just appearance.
On callouts, annotate key symbols: what they mean, who recognizes them, how they change over time.
Include time-layer variants.
Show at least two states: early and late story, pristine and worn, pre- and post-key event.
Design for technical reality.
Don’t put critical narrative symbols only in areas known to be heavily compressed or hidden in gameplay cameras.
Tag priority.
Explicitly mark which symbols are must-keep vs nice-to-have. This helps production decide what to sacrifice when budgets tighten.

7.2 For Production Artists

Preserve proportions and rhythm.
Even when simplifying, keep the spacing and relative size of motifs so the “sentence structure” of the symbol language remains.
Use materials wisely.
Make sure symbolic elements use materials that survive lighting and LOD changes. A narrative-important emblem may need its own material slot or carefully tuned roughness/metalness.
Coordinate across variants.
When building skins, seasonal outfits, or platform-specific versions, maintain core motifs and symbol placement even as colors and trims change.
Surface-subtext in tools.
Name objects and texture sets descriptively (e.g., crest_renewal_variant, rank_braid_rebel_tied) so designers and narrative teams can quickly hook them into story logic.

8. Avoiding and Rewriting Clichés: Practical Patterns

Here are some common cliché setups and ways to flip them using time, culture, and voice.

8.1 “Edgy Death Rogue”

Cliché: Black leather, skulls everywhere, red eyes.

Reframe with Time Layers:

The skull is a family relic from a plague; it’s polished smooth from years of handling, not spiky.
The leather has sun-faded patches where old insignia once were, suggesting renounced allegiance.

Reframe with Culture:

In this world, skull motifs are actually about remembrance and duty, not edginess. Only those who agree to carry the names of the dead may wear them.

Reframe with Voice:

The rogue downplays symbols in crowd-facing contexts, hiding the skull under a scarf. Only when alone or in high-risk missions does it show.

8.2 “Pure Healer in White”

Cliché: Flowy white robes, generic gold trim, serene halo vibes.

Reframe with Time Layers:

The robe was once ceremonial, now patched with utilitarian fabrics from field hospitals.
Stains are carefully scrubbed but never fully gone, creating a ghost history of past battles.

Reframe with Culture:

White is not “purity” but “visibility to rescue teams”; healers must be easy to spot in smoke and chaos.
Gold trim indicates the number of outbreaks survived, not rank.

Reframe with Voice:

The healer quietly stitches small motifs from patients who died into the hem—tiny recurring symbols that only close-up players notice.

8.3 “Spiky Evil Empire”

Cliché: Big red-and-black armor, spikes, menacing skull crests.

Reframe with Time Layers:

The spikes were originally tool hooks on industrial exosuits, repurposed for war.
The red comes from cheap rust-proof pigment used on mass-produced equipment.

Reframe with Culture:

To citizens, the red-black colorway means “infrastructure and order”, not evil. Propaganda posters show the same motifs in bright daylight scenes.

Reframe with Voice:

A dissident officer sands down their spikes, polishes metal to mirror finishes, and replaces the crest with a more ambiguous version, hinting at their internal conflict.

9. Symbolism Across Arcs: Planning Wardrobe as Narrative

Costumes across a story should feel like chapters in a visual book.

9.1 Map Symbol Evolution to Plot Beats

For each major arc, note how symbols change:

Inciting Incident:
First damage to a cherished symbol; loss or forced removal of a uniform.
Midpoint:
Hybridization of symbols—adding rival faction motifs, or masking old ones.
Climax:
Full transformation of primary symbol: broken, inverted, crowned, merged.
Resolution:
New stability—a simpler, truer symbol emerges; old ones archived or worn differently.

Concept side:
Create a wardrobe arc sheet showing key outfits in sequence and annotating symbolic shifts.

Production side:
Coordinate with narrative and gameplay to ensure symbolic variants line up with unlocks, cutscenes, and UI elements. No point designing a powerful symbolic armor variant that unlocks after the story beat it refers to.

9.2 Seasonal & Event Variants Without Losing Subtext

Live games often require seasonal or promotional skins.

Keep core symbol shapes and placement, but change materials, patterns, or cultural framing (e.g., festival reinterpretations of a crest).
Use seasonal symbols to explore “what if” arcs: alternate histories where the character joined a different faction or made a different choice.

Production artists help by building modular symbol systems—swappable badges, decals, and accessories that can be remixed without reauthoring entire meshes.

10. Practical Prompts & Checklists

To ground all this in daily work, here are prompts you can use while designing or building.

10.1 For Concept Artists

Ask yourself:

Time Layers
- What on this costume is older than the character?
- What was added after a specific event?
- What is likely to change in a future upgrade or story beat?
Culture
- How would an in-world person explain this symbol?
- Where else in the world does this motif appear (architecture, UI, props)?
- Who is forbidden from wearing this, and why?
Voice
- What does this character over-emphasize symbolically?
- What are they hiding or downplaying in their clothing?
- How does their outfit “argue” with another character’s?

10.2 For Production Artists

Before simplifying or iterating, check:

Does this change obscure a key symbol?
If yes, can we preserve it via color block, silhouette, or a simpler version?
Are time-layer variants clearly distinguished?
Age, damage, or upgrades should alter the symbolic structure, not just random wear.
Do team/faction readability constraints still allow individual voice?
If not, is there one area (cape lining, belt charms, stitching) where we can keep distinctive motifs?
Are naming conventions and documentation making symbolism discoverable?
Could a new artist understand what matters just by reading asset names and notes?

11. Closing Thoughts

Symbolism and subtext in costume design don’t require exotic motifs or elaborate lore dumps. They emerge from treating clothing as a living record of time, culture, and voice.

Time layers give your costumes history and trajectory.
Culture gives them a coherent, diegetic logic.
Voice turns shared systems into intimate, specific expression.

As a concept or production artist, your job isn’t to hide meaning in obscure details—it’s to build a symbolic language that feels inevitable for this world and this person, then shepherd that language faithfully through the pipeline. Do that, and even a simple coat or belt will feel like it has a story to tell, long before the first line of dialogue appears on screen.