: Have any Unicode symbols reached archetype status for indicating good, bad, and neutral or winner, loser, and tie? I am looking for a way, preferably with symbols, to denote a winner, loser,

@RJPawlick971

Posted in: #Symbolism #Symbols #Unicode

I am looking for a way, preferably with symbols, to denote a winner, loser, or tie—or, thought of another way—good, bad, or neutral.

For instance, in a table of features, to indicate that the feature is included, there might be a check mark, and if the feature isn't included there might be an x mark.

In another example, if comparing two products for features, you may want to denote which product implements the feature better, or worse, or neutrally. In that "neutral" case, is there a particular character that is more recognizable as such?

I'm looking at the following three unicode checkmarks from Wikipedia:

U+2713 ✓ CHECK MARK
U+2714 ✔ HEAVY CHECK MARK
U+1F5F8 LIGHT CHECK MARK


And at the following 'x' marks also from Wikipedia:

U+2717 ✗ BALLOT X (cross)
U+2718 ✘ HEAVY BALLOT X (bold cross)
U+1F5D9 CANCELLATION X
U+1F5F4 BALLOT SCRIPT X


Since there is a heavy check mark and a heavy ballot x, I'm thinking of using those two, but I guess where I'm really struggling is what to use for the "neutral" symbol. Is it just a dash? again from Wikipedia:

figure dash ‒ U+2012
en dash – U+2013
em dash — U+2014
horizontal bar ― U+2015
swung dash ⁓ U+2053


If so, which one: hyphen, en dash, em dash, something I haven't heard of yet? Do I use one, or I've read a bit about three dashes, but that doesn't seem to pertain. Maybe two dashes means something?

I should also note that my particular ask is for a professional situation. Smile (), frown (), and straight faced () might work in another setting, but probably not for my specific situation.

Is my sense right, and these are archetypal symbols, or are there some other symbols that get me closer to communicating good, bad or indifferent?

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