Although frequently referred to as the Stüssy S, Emmy Coats (who has worked alongside Shawn Stussy since 1985) has stated that it was never a symbol of the Californian surf company. The name 'Superman S' comes from a belief that it was a symbol for Superman, whose costume features a stylized S in a diamond shape, but that shape is quite different. Jean-Michel Basquiat's artworks also occasionally have the symbol hidden somewhere, such as in Charles the First, and in the one titled Olive Oil from 1982 it is labelled as the 'classic S of graff'. Jon Naar's photographs of graffiti in New York City, which were taken in 1973 and published in The Faith of Graffiti in 1974, feature the symbol numerous times, identical to its modern form. The exact origin of the symbol is unclear. The Cool S has no reflection symmetry, but has 2-fold rotational symmetry. The tails (pointy ends) of the S appear to link underneath so that it loops around on itself in the same way as the infinity symbol does. It has also been compared to the infinity symbol. The Cool S consists of 14 line segments, forming a stylized, pointed S-shape.

The exact origin of the Cool S is unknown, but it became prevalent around the early 1970s as a part of graffiti culture. The Cool S, also known as the Super S, Universal S, or Middle School S, is a graffiti sign in popular culture that is typically doodled on children's notebooks or graffitied on walls. A drawing of the Cool S and a four-step guide to drawing one

Bubble graffiti letters alphabet