A display arrangement for displaying any desired symbol in an arbitrary manner in any desired sequence. The display is in the form of a grid pattern in which the grid areas confined by the lines and columns of the grid are either of one visual surface or another visually contrasting surface. The surfaces are flipped from one to the other through the application of a magnetic actuating device. The actuating device supports the visually contrasting surfaces and includes two permanent magnetic discs mounted in a plane perpendicular to the axis of movement or rotation about which the device moves in flipping from one display surface to the other. The permanent magnets operate in conjunction with an electromagnet which generates a field directed through an airgap. When the direction of the magnetic field is in one sense, one of the two permanent magnetic discs is attracted into the airgap while the other is repelled. When the direction of the magnetic field is reversed, the action upon the permanent magnetic discs is correspondingly reversed and the actuating device is moved so as to display the appropriate visual surface. By energizing the electromagnet with current in the proper direction, a particular area within the grid pattern may be made of one or the other contrasting surface and as a result any desired symbol may be displayed.