Unlike most other tattoo designs that are out there, triad tattoos can have quite a few meanings. Not only can they have different meanings, they can also have quite a few different looks to them as well. There are classic triad tattoos, modern triad tattoos, and quite a few that fit somewhere in between classic and modern.
Before we get into triad tattoos, it’s important to know what a triad actually is. What you might find surprising is that there are triads all around us. That’s because triads are groups of three things that are connected in some way. For example, presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama are a triad of presidents. It’s a pretty underused word, which is a shame because it’s a pretty unique one with a nice sound to it.
Okay, back to tattoos. Rather than going over every single type of triad tattoo that you could get, instead we are going to focus on the most commonly seen triad tattoos out there today. We’ll also take a look at some of the meanings that can be used with those tattoos and some of the ways that you can design triad tattoos so they can look great on your skin.
Adoption Triad Tattoos
Even though there are quite a few triad tattoos and meanings out there, you will find that many of the people who get them these days are getting the adoption variant. The universal symbol for adoption, the triangle with a heart looped through it, is an important image to many people. It’s not surprising that there are a lot of people who have been adopted or who have been adopted themselves choose to get an adoption triad tattoo.
What’s really cool about the adoption triad tattoo is that each section of the symbol represents a different component of the adoption process. One side of the triangle represents the birth family, one represents the adoptive family, and the other represents the person who was adopted.
It’s not only people who have been involved in an adoption who get these triad tattoos. A lot of people who work in the adoption field will get one. Some people get their adoption tattoos simply because they have a ton of respect for people who do adopt and/or they want to show their love for people who have been adopted.
Family tattoos are bigger than ever these days, so it’s not surprising that plenty of families decide to get matching triad tattoos. In most cases all of the triads are designed exactly the same way and placed on the same areas of the family members’ bodies. This is the type of tattoo that most families are quite proud to show off, so they are usually placed in a highly visible area of the body, such as the wrist or forearm.
Other Triad Tattoo Meanings
What many people think about when triad tattoos are brought up are the Chinese versions of the tattoos. The Triad in China is an organized crime syndicate that was established way back in the 18th century. These triad tattoos range from the colorful and realistic to the more subtle and abstract. They are badges of honor that are meant to show that the person with the tattoos has joined the “brotherhood” and possibly even give more insight into what they have done for the organization.
A triad also happens to be a term used in music, so sometimes triad tattoos represent a person’s love of music. A triad in music is a set of three notes that can be stacked on top of each other in sheet music. You’ll sometimes see that people put triads in their music tattoos to remember their early music lessons since triads are often taught very early on in music theory.
Triad Tattoo Designs and Placement
Triad tattoo designs completely depend on the type of triads that people want to get and the meanings that they are using. As we pointed out up top, triads are everywhere in one way or the other, so there are a lot of different ways that you can get a triad tattoo designed. Of course, if you know the type of triad that you like, then you will need to figure out how you want to have that triad represented on your body.
In some cases people with the adoption version of the triad tattoo will color in the side of the triangle that represents themselves. For example, someone who was adopted could fill in one line of the triangle with a different color to represent their part of the process or even their adoptive parents.
With the family variant of the adoption tattoo, each member of the family can get a different part of the design shaded in or everyone can get the same design with each part of the triangle shaded in a different color to represent the family.
Placement of a triad tattoo comes down to the size and shape of the design. For example, if you wanted to get a smaller adoption triad design, then you could choose to place it pretty much anywhere on your body, including your wrist, your ankle, or behind your ear. On the other hand, if you wanted to get a larger triad with an odd shape, you’d have to figure out how to make it fit wherever you wanted to place it by working with your tattoo artist.
Is the Triad Tattoo Right for You?
As you can see, there are a lot of triad tattoos out there and each one has its own set of meanings. The adoption triad is the most popular one in the West right now, and for good reason.
The adoption image and most of the other triads out there have nice geometric shapes, too, so they often do look nice in tattoo form. If you found that one of the triad tattoos mentioned here make sense for you and you like the meanings attached to them, be sure to find an artist who you can trust to do the work for you.