Free peace sign SVG files

How the sign is built

The peace sign was drawn in 1958 by the British designer Gerald Holtom for a march against nuclear weapons. He based it on the flag semaphore signals for N and D, for nuclear disarmament: N is two flags held down at 45 degrees, and D is one flag straight up and one straight down. Put the two inside a circle and you have the sign. It was never trademarked, so anyone may use it.

That history gives the proportions. The upright runs the full height of the ring, and the two short bars leave the centre at 45 degrees either side of straight down. On the classic file the ring and bars are 9 mm wide in a 100 mm circle; the bold one is 14 mm and the thin one 4 mm.

Cutting notes

The plain signs are one piece with four openings, so on vinyl you weed four shapes and you are done. They can be cut very small: the bold sign still has 3.5 mm bars at 25 mm across. The olive leaf, daisy and floral signs have finer points and are happier at 90 mm or more.

For a two-colour sign, cut the solid classic sign in one colour and the outline in another, and lay the outline on top. On a laser, the bold sign makes a sturdy ornament or coaster in 3 mm plywood.

How to open the files

• Cricut Design Space: choose Upload, pick the SVG, and add it to the canvas. Set the width you want; the shape is already welded.
• Silhouette Studio: Designer Edition and above open the SVG. The free Basic Edition does not, so open the DXF instead.
• LightBurn, xTool Creative Space and Glowforge: import the SVG, then set the layer to cut, score or engrave.
• Inkscape, Illustrator and Affinity: open the SVG. It is a plain filled path, so you can recolour it, add a stroke or combine it with your own work.
• Printing or sublimation: use the PNG, which has a transparent background.

Each design page lists the file’s narrowest part at seven sizes, so you can tell whether it will survive at the size you plan to cut.

Questions