识 (traditional 識) sets the speech radical 讠 beside a phonetic that once meant a marked banner — something you can identify at a distance. To know is to be able to mark and name.
识 completes 认识 (to know someone) and builds 知识 (knowledge — with 知 'to know' it doubles up into 'the known'). 识字 is literacy — 'knowing characters' — historically the great divide in Chinese society and the very thing you're doing right now, one hanzi a day. A common saying, 有识之士, honors 'people of insight'.
Speech 讠 + a marked banner — able to name what you see: to KNOW.
识字 'knowing characters' = literacy. By finishing HSK 1 you'll 识 about 150 of the ~3,500 in daily use — the steepest, most useful 150.