Decorative dingbats add design flexibility. Creative Notes ... Zapf Dingbats falls into this latter category, and its glyphs range from fleurons to geometric shapes, stars, checkmarks, ...

They have used decorative glyphs, paintings and written words in monochrome and color to reflect their lifestyles and to communicate functional messages (e.g., a green light means go!).

Before Apple's LaserWriter Plus printer came along, the only exposure the general public would have had to the word "dingbat" was Archie Bunker’s use of it to insult his wife, Edith in the 1970s ...