When deciding on a design to use as a Temporary Brand find something that is simple. Lines cannot be very close together or they will "meld or bleed" together. Also pick something that you can draw! You have to draw it on the person before you can brand it.

Egyptian Hieroglyphics make excellent designs.
http://www.slateboard.com/hiero/

Temporary Brands do not always have to be Meaningful or related to lifestyle.
The nice thing is they will go away and you can do something different in a month or so. Sometimes you might want something cute or silly. This site has it. (hmmm, I am thinking a carrot would be fun to do to someone<grin>)
http://www.sla.purdue.edu/fll/JapanProj/FLClipart/default.html

and THIS site ROCKS....
thousands of words, with simple line figures to make them....
check out "family" and "slave owner" (a mars symbol) and the women's coat of arms, and about a zillion others. THIS ONE IS THE ONE YOU WANT!!!
http://www.symbols.com/index/wordindex-a.html

Theres only a few pictures here, but they are of American Indian Symbols
http://www.collectorsguide.com/fa/fa040.shtml

This site is a bit hard to navigate, but it has many English words written in Chinese
http://www.formosa-kingdom.com/chinese/