Happy human
The Happy Human ( German : Glücklicher Mensch) is a pictogram that is used as a symbol for secular humanism . It was created by Dennis Barrington and won a competition organized by Humanists UK (formerly the British Humanist Association) in 1965. Today, many different forms of this symbol are used by humanist organizations around the world, such as Humanists International and the American Humanist Association (AHA).
The rights to this symbol remain with Humanists UK, who in good faith licenses the use of the symbol by humanist organizations worldwide freely.
origin
The Happy Human was created in response to a Humanists UK competition in 1965 after many years of debating what the logo should look like. After a period of no progress, radio host Margaret Knight supported a popular movement among Humanists UK members to commission such a logo, prompting advertising agent Tom Vernon to announce a competition. Of the several hundred designs from different countries that were considered, Dennis Barrington's simple design was favored because of its supposed universalism. Within a few years the logo had emerged as a symbol of humanism, not just humanists in Britain, and was adopted by humanist organizations around the world.
Since the 1990s, humanist groups have adopted looser, more figurative versions of the Happy Human logo, such as the logos used by Humanisterna (Sweden), the Humanist Association of Germany (Germany), the Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (Italy), and the European Humanist Federation can be used. In 2017, the British Humanist Association, from which Happy Human emerged, launched a new, single-line drawing style for Happy Human when it was renamed Humanists UK.
Types of symbol
Original Happy Human symbol
Logo of the European Humanist Federation
Humanist Canada logo
Former logo of the Humanist Association
Logo of the IHEYO (International Humanist Ethical Youth Organization)
Organizations that use the symbol
- American Humanist Association (USA)
- Humanists UK (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
- Council of Australian Humanist Societies (CAHS) (Australia)
- European Humanist Federation
- Romanian Secular-Humanist Association (ASUR) (Romania)
- LGBT Humanists UK
- Humanist Association of Ireland (Ireland)
- Humanist Alliance Philippines International (HAPI)
- Humanist Canada (Canada)
- Humanist Society of New Zealand (New Zealand)
- Humanist Society Scotland (Scotland)
- Humanistic Verbond (Netherlands)
- Indian Humanist Union (India)
- Mumbai Rationalist Association (India)
- Institute for Humanist Studies
- International Humanist and Ethical Union
- Norwegian Humanist Association (Norway)
- Primera Iglesia Humanista de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico)
- Siðmennt (Iceland)
- Swedish Humanist Association (Sweden)
- Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (Italy)
- Cyprus Humanist Association (Cyprus)
Organizations using a similar symbol
- Council for Secular Humanism
- Institute for Humane Studies
- Party of humanists
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The Happy Human Symbol . BHA. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
- ↑ Happy Human Symbol . IHEU. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
- ↑ American Humanist Homepage . Retrieved November 2, 2013.