Symbol Signs

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February 12, 2014

To the human mind icons and pictographs are symbols of cultural representations of our daily life, to be more exact, reality. Every culture has its own set of icons, pictographs and symbols that are associated with different experiences and perceptions. An icon or a pictograph’s meaning is neither instinctive nor automatic. The members of the culture must interpret and over time reinterpret the icon. An icon or a pictograph is an important and enduring symbol because it is a picture that represents a person or a thing regarded as a symbol of a community, cultural movement, belief or a nation as a small graphic image. In Computer Science it is a picture on a screen that represents a specific file, directory, window, option, or program. International Icons are a very interesting subject; because, they combine all the languages in to one language that has been understood by everyone, even the children. “Pictographs and icons are used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to be a considerable extent pictorial in appearance.” To simplify it icons and pictographs are graphic symbols that give us information when written words can’t be display and it will be easer for the people to see and understand it.

In 1936-1947, in the early modern ages, was the first example of the great amount of use the icons or pictographs have been seen in the maps in the London suburban timetables of the London and North Eastern Railway and George Dow designed it. “The variety of pictographs was used to indicate facilities available at or near each station. Pictographs remain in common use today, serving as pictorial, representational signs, instructions, or statistical diagrams. Because of their graphical nature and fairly realistic style, they are widely used to indicate public toilets, or places such as airports and train stations.”

The first 34 icons that were published in the U.S for the public was in 1974 by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and it got the first Presidential Design Award. In 1979, 16 more symbols were added to the list or set if the first icon, the copyright is free and it has become one of the standards for the off-the-shelf symbols in the catalogues of U.S. sign companies. This company is one of the world’s biggest developers of voluntary International Standards and that give the state of the art specifications for products, services and good practice. By doing that it helps make the industry more efficient and effective. “Developed through global consensus, they help to break down barriers to international trade.” The company story began in 1946, “when delegates from 25 countries met at the Institute of Civil Engineers in London and decided to create a new international organization ‘to facilitate the international coordination and unification of industrial standards’. In February 1947 the new organization, ISO, officially began operations.” And then it was founded in 1947,“and since then have published more than 19,500 International Standards covering almost all aspects of technology and business. From food safety to computers, and agriculture to healthcare, ISO International Standards impact all our lives.” Today the company have members from 161 countries and 3,368 technical bodies to take care of standard development and more than 150 people work full time for ISO’s Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. The company goal is to provide people from all over the world a coherent set of graphical symbols to help overcome language and other barriers. “A technical committee, ISO/TC 145, Graphical symbols, has defined internationally accepted requirements for designs, colors, content and shapes of graphical symbols. These symbols convey important messages about product features, directions and other aspects of daily life – whether at work, at home, or for leisure. Critical areas include health and safety- related warnings, prohibitions and mandatory actions.”

The symbol signs system in the company started with 50 icons, which they design for the use at the crossroads of modern life, for example transportation, airports, and at large international events. “Produced through collaboration between AIGA and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), they are an example of how public-minded designers can address a universal communication need.” Internationally, symbol signs can be very tricky and hard to design because everybody should see and understand it immediately, the age should not matter, or the culture. “Prior to this effort, numerous international, national and local organizations had devised symbols to guide passengers and pedestrians through transportation facilities and other sites of international exchange. While effective individual symbols had been designed, there was no system of signs that communicated the required range of complex messages, addressed people of different ages and cultures and were clearly legible at a distance.” The journey of designing the symbol signs is not easy, so for them to develop such a symbol signs system, the AIGA and DOT decided to put on together an inventory of symbol systems that had been used in various locations worldwide, for example airports and train stations to the Olympic Games. “AIGA appointed a committee of five leading designers of environmental graphics, who evaluated the symbols and made recommendations for adapting or redesigning them. Based on their conclusions, a team of AIGA member designers produced the symbols.”

In conclusion, This Company has been able to develop some of the greatest and most well known symbol signs. I believe that having such an international signage system that is known worldwide by people is very effective. Signage attracts the eyes as having a visual element to it and having icons, as identifications in places such as subways or usual places would be very helpful. It unites people and thus lessens the amount of confused travellers in for example airports and stations. It is not an easy task but producing more international symbols will prove to be much effective to the people worldwide.