Travis, your comments remind me of something I read once…"the most creative people are the ones who are best at hiding their source material." Seen this way, Zodiac strikes me as somewhat unimaginative since he didn’t alter the stuff he "borrowed" from others — watch symbols, comic book materials, etc.

But, he did have an artistic flair, as evidenced in some of his letters, and possibly a creative side in writing (desktop poem)

Travis, your comments remind me of something I read once…"the most creative people are the ones who are best at hiding their source material." Seen this way, Zodiac strikes me as somewhat unimaginative since he didn’t alter the stuff he "borrowed" from others — watch symbols, comic book materials, etc.

I agree.

It’s lots of little things with Z, for me anyway, in this regard. I don’t think there’s anything ‘in your face’ enough to scream Zodiac was a designer, an artist, a poet, an architect, draughtsperson, printer, calligrapher etc etc. There are things though that hint towards a possible acquaintance the commercial/professional end of things. Even his own approach as morf says errs toward the artistic.

He may not have altered the symbol or the name but he did alter how they were reproduced. At least from the watch faces. The conundrum I suppose I have is – say Zodiac was a designer would he really produce a well crafted or even cleverly altered version of it for his own use? I wouldn’t. My first thought/concern would be ‘Is this a huge tell’. It works the other way unfortunately because I have to wonder if Zodiac was a professional would he be happy with the sloppy solutions approach? I’m not sure we can be that cut n dry with this stuff. The fact that he borrowed it and re-used it could arguably be enough in itself so hint towards his acquaintance with working practices. A person with no such acquaintance might simply have thought "Damn. It’s been used already, I’ll have to find something else".

If there’s a hand to show here he’s not showing it. There are hints though that I find hard to simply brush aside. How that translates to reality is another matter. He might have gone to art college. He might have produced posters. He might have just liked to read about such things.

His brand and symbol. Even just that he used them. It wasn’t just a name, it had a visual element to it.
The symbol is also a registration mark used in printing (maybe coincidence)
‘Washed my pen’. Rotring pens used in commercial artwork and drafting had to be washed. (again possibly coincidence)
The use of the symbol at LB. He’s branding and advertising. For personal reasons possibly but also it might be in case he was spotted at a distance from across the lake or from it. Either way he uses the visual element to ‘brand’ the message on the car.
The use of greetings cards and their ‘visual puns’ as a means of communicating.
His varied ‘fonts’ or ‘typefaces’ used’ in his letters and even his envelopes (The Belli Letter, possibly mimicking the font at Belli’s own property)
The ciphers. Laid out to be visually pleasing and well framed. Even (possibly) employing the symbol again to brand and assist in visually balancing the 340 within the page. Even the possible construction methods to achieve them.

As you say though. Z was a borrower. I have no argument there. It’s the things and possible areas that he chose to borrow from that I find interesting. You can’t borrow something if you’re not aware of it.

Several weeks ago, I went back and re-read a March, 1969 article ("In the Name of the Law") in the S.F. Express Times and noticed an interesting detail.

the spailpeen fanach wrote…
O’brien had been accompanied that evening by Patrolman Willis Gariott and two female friends. The girls were in the car and when the guns supposedly came out, Garriott ran off up the alley to Folsom Street looking for help. He found a Special Police Officer(a private cop) and a Yellow Cab. He told the cab driver to call headquarters and get help.

Am I reading too much into this? Keep in mind that on Wednesday, October 9, 1968, Officer O’brien was charged with Mr. Baskett’s murder. On Saturday, October 11, 1969, Zodiac murdered Paul Stine. Perhaps Z had a regular job and was only free on weekends to do his thing. You could make the same case for his attack at Lake Berryessa — he couldn’t do the attack on the one-year anniversary of Mr. Baskett’s killing since that day fell on a Monday.

If Z was a member of the Minutemen or the KKK, then of course he’s not going to make any racist remarks in his letters. That would be too big of a clue. But we do know for a fact that the Minutemen used the crosshair symbol before Zodiac. The Klan also uses the same symbol.

Here is an interesting and odd comment from "Oscar" on zodiackiller.com regarding Zodiac being in the Black Panthers. The comment was posted on March 15, 2001, one day after Gaikowski’s birthday. Perhaps wishful thinking on Richard’s part?

Oscar wrote…

J,
Z was referring to those ubiquitous "happy face" buttons that were so popular and annoying at the time. Another theory is that he was referring to the "Free Angela" buttons, as he was alleged to have been a member of the Black Panther party. Always willing to help a newbie.
Yours,
O.

Trav:
You listed several professions that might have related to Z’s "artistic" penchant. Would a Graphic Designer fit into those categories?

Trav:
You listed several professions that might have related to Z’s "artistic" penchant. Would a Graphic Designer fit into those categories?

It would and that’s what I meant by just ‘designer’. I am one so I have a habit of abbreviating it to just designer, apologies.

I think we are looking for some sort of polymath.

I think we are looking for some sort of polymath.

I like that thought Jalve ..extrapolating it a little further, his category more fits with "Jack of all trades Master of none" after all he was/is no Leonardo.

Could a graphic designer finesse into designing/drawing greeting cards? I ask this because Z delighted in bombarding LE and the newspapers with greeting cards, a number of which he’d modified. Also, ca. 1991, I stumbled across a greeting card whose subject was innocuous, but whose message (and it was fairly lengthy) was either printed by Z, or by someone who deliberately copied his printing–it was that exact! Unfortunately, the card got trashed along with all my other Zodiac research in order to placate my wife who, at that time, was thoroughly pissed off by my extensive and time-consuming Zodiac research.

Could a graphic designer finesse into designing/drawing greeting cards?

Certainly.

Therein lies the problem in part. If any of the stuff I listed or indeed anyone theorizes on in that area are actual clues in some way as to who Zodiac may have been or even his background, they aren’t clear or specific enough. Being a graphic designer incorporates several different skillsets and some designers might branch out into these more than others. These can be many things from illustration to typography and so on. Some designers might have little or no illustrative ability but be very skilled in worked with layout, fonts, brand creation etc. It is unfortunately, for our needs, a multi-faceted discipline.

There are, aside from the creative off-shoots I’ve already mentioned, the production end of things and indeed the more technical areas of design. Many of these would have shared the same abilities and indeed the same tools. There was something creative about Zodiac but nothing refined enough to scream, there! that’s what he did , that’s who he was. That’s why I mention art school because it reminds me of foundation year where students are encouraged to sample many different disciplines graphics, textiles, furniture, fine art, sculpture etc.

For all we know Zodiac might have taken night class. Worked in pre-press for a summer at a newspaper pasting up ads. Was a printer, a calligrapher. It’s the variation that interests me and what might be possible hints/clues that make me think he had some connection or acquaintance with the area of visual communication and production.

Maybe he was just the janitor? I doubt it though unless we’re thinking of some sort of, one step further removed, twisted version of Goodwill Hunting.

This thread confuses me.

Is it supposed to be about whether Zodiac is coincidentally using a white power symbol, or about all the ways that things might coincidentally be related to him, such as black panthers, graphic designers/ etc?

If it’s the second case, we might be here for a long time.

Trav:
You listed several professions that might have related to Z’s "artistic" penchant. Would a Graphic Designer fit into those categories?

Maybe Z did this???

This thread confuses me.

Is it supposed to be about whether Zodiac is coincidentally using a white power symbol, or about all the ways that things might coincidentally be related to him, such as black panthers, graphic designers/ etc?

If it’s the second case, we might be here for a long time.

Yes.

Apologies. I thought that too but also wanted to answer the queries. I should have re-directed them to a more relevant thread or suggested a new one. This has dissolved into the very broad area of coincidence rather than just pertaining to the original query regarding the similarity between Zodiac’s symbol choice and the white power symbol.

When did white pride/power start using the cross hair symbol? I can’t say that I recall white pride or white power being in existence in the 60’s.