The symbols themselves are intended to serve as indexical signs. This type of sign was first described by Charles Peirce and denotes something that is indicative of something else. The most commonly used example is of smoke as an indexical sign of fire.
In the context of my visual system, the symbols are generated by the properties of the sound and thus certain patterns, combinations and structures that appear within them can be read as indexical signs of certain types of music.
On the Bestival Poster, the symbol for the song How Far (2 Bears Remix) by Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (below) contains a distinct repeated pattern of colour. Somebody who viewed this symbol and subsequently listened to the track would learn the connection between this patterned symbol and the dancey, electronic music and would be able to measure other visuals against this reference point and gradually acquire an idea of what style of symbol indicates what type of sound.
The indicative nature of the system (five key attributes define the look of each symbol so it does not wholly describe each track) is conducive to intuitive guessing of what things might sound like and acts like a rough guide for an educated exploration of music where the listener isn't influenced to receive the music in a certain way by superfluous marketing and branding.
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