Thanks for that! I remember reading something on the subject years ago and scrolled through comments hoping someone would dig it up! Kudos!
(But there was another, similar article, much longer, with the actual frames from the movie, going through symbols one by one… I thought I had it bookmarked…)
Perhaps it's this one (although it doesn't cover all the symbols): https://www.hackerneue.com/item?id=36071821
It's unfortunate that they basically ruined the universe with the sequels after the 2nd movie. The first two are still top movies.
AVP 1 is actually one of my guiltiest pleasures :) -- it scratches a lot of my scifi-horror itches (mysterious originator civilization that was seeded with ideas like architecture and religion by aliens, big group of humans with weapons being hunted down one by one, weird maze-like house of horrors, isolated setting)
I first watched it when it came out and I was in the fourth grade, so I definitely have a lot of nostalgic value attached to it. I try and watch it at least once a year!
As an example of what I mean, this was a pretty good blog post that touches on the semiotic standards aboard the Nostromo: https://crewsproject.wordpress.com/2017/05/12/aliens-standar...
The audience never directly interacts with this standard in any way, but it adds so much depth to the world and makes for a much richer experience.