The Alien Dictionary is my name for a visual vocabulary: a growing set of shapes, characters and symbols for feelings that ordinary words miss. It started with a simple problem. Some emotional states, like dissociation, sensory overload or the sense of watching life from behind glass, don’t fit into sentences. They do fit into pictures.
Where the idea comes from
Many neurodivergent people describe feeling like an outsider, an alien watching human customs from the edge. I wrote about that feeling in Drawing from the Outside. The Alien Dictionary turns that outsider view into a tool. If you are already observing from a distance, you notice details that insiders take for granted, and you can translate them into images.
How an entry gets made
- Name the feeling as closely as possible, even if the words are clumsy.
- Find its physical qualities: is it heavy, sharp, loud, empty, looping?
- Pick a metaphor with the same qualities, such as a frozen bird, a lamp that spreads darkness, or a figure with a hollow chest.
- Simplify until only the shapes that carry meaning are left.
Over time the symbols repeat and connect, so the work builds a consistent language instead of one-off pictures.
Why it uses bold, simple shapes
Feelings like overwhelm are already chaotic. Drawing them with lots of detail adds to the noise. Each Alien Dictionary entry uses a few bold shapes, symmetry and a mostly purple palette. The structure holds the feeling still long enough for the viewer to look at it. More on that in Symmetry in Trauma Art.
Neurodivergent strengths in the process
- Hyperfocus makes long, detailed sessions possible.
- Pattern recognition helps keep symbols consistent across many pieces.
- An outsider view catches feelings that others overlook or explain away.
Where the Alien Dictionary is useful
Clinicians and mental health publishers use images like these to explain states their clients struggle to describe. Readers use them to point and say “that one, that’s how it feels”. The approach also suits brands that want illustration with real meaning behind it. Psychologists have long noted that metaphor helps people understand abstract experience; the conceptual metaphor idea is a good starting point if you want the theory.
A few example entries
Here’s how some feelings translate into Alien Dictionary symbols. These are descriptions of the kind of images I make, so you can see the method in action:
- Dissociation: a figure seen through thick glass, slightly out of focus, while the room behind them is sharp.
- Sensory overload: a calm face in the centre while the edges of the picture fill with crowded, pointed shapes.
- Shame: one bare tree in a garden of fruit trees.
- Numbness: a bird frozen mid-flight in an empty sky.
- Social exhaustion: a figure carrying a lamp whose light has shrunk to a dot.
Some of these come from my poem I Have a Feeling…, which describes a feeling only through comparisons. Writing it showed me that a list of odd images can say more than a direct description.
Because the symbols repeat, viewers start to learn the language. A shape that meant “overload” in one piece will mean the same thing in the next. That consistency is what turns single illustrations into a dictionary. Researchers in visual language describe a similar process: repeated images build shared meaning over time.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Alien Dictionary a real book?
It’s an ongoing personal project and method that shapes my illustration work. Entries appear across my art and blog.
Can I commission new entries?
Yes. If your organisation needs images for specific feelings or concepts, I can create them in the same style.
Browse the portfolio to see the symbols in use, or contact me with your project.
Wish You a Purple Day!