Meaning 1

Representation: 

Right above us represents a chair. We use it in our everyday lives whether at school, at our jobs, or our leisure time. From the viewers perspective we see the chair denoting relief simply for the fact that we use chairs to relax. You can see the four legs, the simple design of the backrest, and the bright red color used for the chair. 

Abstraction: 

This example is abstraction at it's finest. From top left, the viewer can imagine that it's a huge whale tail, but turning it over actually functions as a chair. Human perception is kinda of thrown off to the eye, but when gazing at it a second time and actually seeing it for what it is, we paint an image in our minds telling us that it is a chair; that we can actually sit on it. From my eye I can imagine that chair is pretty uncomfortable if sitting on it for long periods, because of the design. However it is nothing less but a chair with a whale tail design.

Symbol:

Stripped down to it's basic form we can see from up top that this is a symbol of a chair. This symbol however still retains some of the real qualities of a chair, and what a chair is supposed to look like. The symbol has the basic functions, from the legs, to backrest, to the part where we even sit. This symbolic gesture denotes a place where one can sit; for example if this symbol were to be put up in a library, we can obviously see that it gives us some visual communication that it is a place to sit.