HARRY POTTER Signs: Behind the Creative Process

Why did we create the series of 16 videos showcasing 150+ signs for the world of Harry Potter?

In response to that question, we made an ASL 'infomercial' press release video for the HARRY POTTER Signs project. Do take a few minutes and sit back and enjoy the video!



(Captions are available - toggle the CC logo on the bottom of the video screen).



The original 16 videos with 150+ signs can be found here too.

Now, people have asked us how we came up with the signs in the first place. Why this project with 150+ signs? How did the creative process play out? Did any signs evolve in the process? What was the rationale behind specific signs not mentioned in the series of 16 categorized videos?

We will cover those inquires in this post.

First, the content of that infomercial is true - my peers and I ran into every roadblock mentioned in the video above. Many of the names and terms are challenging to fingerspell, and we have been guilty of making up nonsense signs so we wouldn't have to fingerspell "Quidditch" 30 times within a hour during the intramural Quidditch league practices on our college campus.

***Do keep in mind that those suggested signs are not the "final" version nor are they set in stone, but rather the result of our brainstorming and discussion sessions. We are sharing the videos to kickstart an intellectual discussion of possible signs for those names/items/terms mentioned. Do feel free to share yours and/or offer suggestions for alternate signs.***


Why 150+ signs? That's a lot of ground to cover!

The main reason? We tired of fingerspelling every other word within our many discussion regarding the Harry Potter books and films. Over the years, the signs emerged one by one - some were no-brainer signs (such as Harry's name sign) while others took a long time to decide over many discussions (the sign for Dementor, for instance) while others were inspired by outside sources (Voldemort's non-Death Eater approved name sign, for one).

Those 150 signs is the cumulative collaboration over the past 17 years, and we have shared them upon request from others who were fascinated by the signs we had chosen.  At first, we only had a minimal list of 25 signs but we soon realized that we had signs for not only the characters, but the places, things, and terminology used within the wizarding world. So the original 25 grew to 150 and beyond.

Even up to the last minute, we added several more to the list at the 11th hour, bringing the total to 150. Upon completing shooting of the 16 videos, we added several more, and improved upon others (Marauder's Map got a new sign).


Are all of the signers in the videos really d/Deaf?

Yes - and I can see why this question would be asked. In our research in finding other sources with name signs for the world of Harry Potter, we came upon many YouTube videos where hearing ASL users would share their creative signs. Not many - if any - were found with native ASL users. This became one of our reasons for sharing those videos - we wanted to showcase Deaf ASL users sharing the signs, not an amateur still learning ASL.

All six of us are Deaf. All of us use ASL as our primary mode of communication. Some have hearing aids, others have cochlear implants. Some of us went to a school for the deaf, others were mainstreamed. One of us goes to Gallaudet, two went to CSUN, and the others are from University of Minnesota. What brought us together for this project was our love of the Harry Potter stories.


How did you come up with those signs?

In the beginning, we didn't establish rules regarding name signs.  Over the years, our earlier name signs and signs evolved with time. Eventually, we came to understand the terms of ANS and DNS used  within the "rules" of assigning name signs and turned to them as a guideline. (I use the quotation marks loosely as rules can be interpreted differently - or in our case, broken on purpose).

What are ANS and DNS?

ANS, or Arbitrary Name Signs - use the initial letter of a given name without a meaning behind the sign. For instance, a person with the name Mary might have a "M" handshape by the mouth, or on the chest. A "Mark"might have theirs on their temple. or on the chest, or in neutral space as well.

With DNS, or Descriptive Name Signs, the sign is inspired by a descriptive term - ie "Scar" in The Lion King might have someone tracing the scar underneath his eye.

For this project, we agreed early on to use DNS as much as possible for several reasons. One, not all signed languages share the same manual alphabet. Two, discussions using the names and such within Harry Potter would get confusing early on with multiple characters sharing the same initial letter. Lastly, it would help with character identification purposes to use DNS as much as possible.

For example, one suggested sign for Harry had the handshapes for H-P on the forehead. At first, I thought they were talking about a classmate of mine in middle school who also shared the same initials and had the same name sign. Only a follow-up "you know, the boy with the scar on his forehead?" did I make the difference between Harry and Herb.

The deciding factor was when a friend and I ran into a Deaf person from the UK on our vacation. We used ASL, he used BSL (British Sign Language). With the language differences, we turned to minimal fingerspelling and much gesturing. Our conversation went like this:

Friend: (discussing the HP books)
BSL user: (sharing a quizzical look)
Friend; H-P books?
BSL user: (shakes his head in confusion)
Me: (gesturing 'book') (tracing Harry's scar on my forehead)
BSL user: Oh! H-P books! (He fingerspelled H-P using the BSL alphabet which I knew)

The resulting conversation used many temporary (but creative) signs for the terms and names used in the books, with the aid of DNS. Thus, we threw ANS out of the way and focused on DNS (or a combination of).

There is an excellent document that goes on to explain the rationale behind name signs within the Deaf community as well as the history behind it - read it here.


Did any of the signs evolve over time?

A good example would be the sign for Voldemort - er - you-know-who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. At first, I borrowed the sign of another fan, who signed his name as "dark" but with the V handshape (and breaking the "no-mixing ANS with DNS" rule). As the books progressed, Voldemort became more scary, that name sign wasn't scary enough, nor did it accurately portray the man he became post-Chamber of Secrets when the first name sign was created.

Years later, a peer and I were researching sign suggestions online when we should have been working on homework during group study time. We found someone suggesting a sign for Voldemort (which can be seen in the infomercial above). Our friend (who was actually working on homework) responded to the suggestion (without knowing that we were looking up HP-related signs) with "A bunny? Are we still talking about the killer bunny from Monty Python?", referring to the Monty Python and the Holy Grail film.

After we explained it was a suggested sign for Voldemort, we had a good chuckle by imaging the Dark Lord with a pair of bunny ears, bouncing around the garden. Uhh... no.

A few days later, we found a picture of Voldemort's face plastered on a electrical socket cover. The space where the prongs of an electrical cord would go, aligned perfectly with his nose - or lack thereof. Thus, the current sign (non-Death Eater-approved one, mind you) was inspired by that electrical socket cover by cutting off one's own nose.

Then of course, knowing that his followers wouldn't approve of that sign, we had to come up with an alternate sign. We'd already determined the sign for "Dark Mark" - the act of tattooing a snake on one's forearm - it made sense to add "Lord" in front of that sign for Dark Mark - thus Lord Dark Mark, basically.


Were some names/terms easier than others? What were the hard ones?

Many of them were easy enough - Harry got his from his scar, Dumbledore from his beard, Mad-Eye from his eye, and so on.

One of the factors that helped create DNS signs for the characters, places, things, and whatnot is that J.K. Rowling created such a diverse and rich culture full of vibrant and creative individuals, places, and things. The sheer expanse of imaginative descriptions helped establish signs for the more recurring characters, places, things, and terms.

Would it have been possible had the HP-universe not be this creative? Probably not, as we did discuss creating name signs for other books such as The Hunger Games, The Lord of the Rings, as well as the Star Wars films. (For instance, it was easy coming up with a name sign for Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, not so much for the other characters). The Lord of the Rings came in second, as we do have  a list of suggested signs for the main players and locations within the world of Middle Earth.

We had some 'loaner' signs such as the sign for Aragog. In the sixth film (Half Blood Prince), during Aragog's funeral Harry used his fingers to indicate the pinchers on the dead spider. That came up during a conversation when we were reminding another peer of who Aragog was. "Remember the movie - (uses pincher fingers) - that dead spider? (Yes, the correct term is acromantula - but we digress). So we kept on the actor's gesture to use as the name sign for Aragog.

Among the difficult ones were Dementor, Auror, Severus Snape, Gellert Grindelwald, Sirius Black and many others.

In Professor Snape's case, we wanted to make sure his name sign was a good and accurate match. There is a rationale behind the name sign we gave him, and we chose not to disclose it in the video in danger of giving away his background to people who have yet to read the books (or seen the films).

The Mirror of the Erised proved particularly difficult, and we still aren't satisfied with the current name sign we have chosen (after 30 alternate suggestions).

Hermione had several possibilities, including one that quite a few were using. Those suggested the ASL sign for SMART-SMART (twice), and we did consider this sign. The reason why we ultimately went with the bushy hair description was that we were going for first impression. That, and bushy air translates easier across languages as my friend tried SMART-SMART on a non-ASL user and there were communication difficulties. Once we switched to BUSHY-HAIR, the other person recognized it as a character descriptive trait for Hermione.


It looks like you are bending name sign rules there...

We did indeed break - er - bend the rule of never mixing ANS and DNS when creating name signs for several characters. Some characters that do include Slughorn , Minerva McGonagall, the Weasley family sign and several others.

With Minerva McGonagall, we went with M - CAT, thus breaking our guideline of not using ANS to avoid the linguistic barrier that might occur. But we did notice that the ASL handshape for M also had similarities with the BSL handshape for M, so that was a "loosely" enforced guideline.

Slughorn was particularly difficult to create a name sign for. Doing our research, we noticed that the BSL sign for "favorite" is similar to the ASL sign for "regret" (same location and handshape, different movement). We transformed the A handshape into a S, implying that Slughorn plays favorites and does regret his actions in helping young Mr. Riddle.

The Weasley family sign (as we are still trying to create name signs for Arthur, Molly, Charlie, and Bill while the younger children have name signs set) evolved from an earlier suggestion for Ron, using R with the ASL sign for RED, as in having red hair. We didn't like it as it did not accurately portray Ron, and that changed to the BEST FRIEND sign that already used the R handshape. So the R gave away to W, as in W - RED FAMILY.

Some of the names do borderline cross from ANS territory to DNS territory and they include Lily Potter, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Remus Lupin, for instance. Are they a mixture of both? Not quite, but then again, they are more DNS than ANS.

Lily Potter's name sign came from the ILY handshape, which combines the handshapes for I, L, and Y. We put that by the eye as people tend to comment on them - as in telling Harry that he has his mother's eyes. The ILY sign is also a plus, as it shows the mother's love for her son, and that love protected her son. So with those two unique traits, came an unique name sign that is fitting.

At first glance, it might appear that Bellatrix Lestrange's name sign is a combination of both whereas it is more rooted into DNS territory. This sign started out with B-CRAZY. Over time, (and lazy signing), the B evolved into a clawed 4, which appears more natural. At one point, it started out as a B but finished as a open clawed 4. In the end, it remained in the 4 handshape.

Remus Lupin's name sign is derived from the ASL sign for MOON, which ironically has a crooked L handshape. But it is still a DNS sign.


What are your favorites? 

Our favorites are the fun ones - the Weasley twins' approved version of Voldemort, Errol (the crash-prone owl), Bellatrix, Umbridge, Howler, Animagus, Cedric Diggory, and the Whomping Willow.

The bottom line? The more creative the sign is, the more fun it is to use the sign!


I have different signs, or I would like to suggest new/alternate signs - how can I do that?

We noted in reading the comments under the Shares on Facebook that people have indirectly disagreed with our name signs /or have shared that they have their own preferred name signs.

Please do share them with us!

We would love to hold a discussion on variations of signs used with the Deaf community. As for suggesting signs for those already on the list - or not yet on the list - please do share away! Post in the comments below, or share your YouTube video link.

 (make sure the video is captioned or provide a transcript, please).

We would like to stress that those signs are not the official, final signs. They are merely suggestions. If you have your own signs and would prefer to use them, then feel free to do so. (But we would love to see your preferred signs too!)

Now, our questions for you - what are your favorite signs? Any signs you do not agree with and would like to suggest improved versions? Are there suggested signs for other characters, places, things, or terms not already on the list? Any that you would like a sign for but can't think of one?

Let's start a discussion!