Pictograms

By Miss Cellania in Everything Else on Jul 31, 2009 at 9:00 pm

Are you familiar with the International System of Typographic Picture Education? It’s what we call pictograms. The system featuring a round-headed man was invented by Austrian philosopher Otto Neurath and German artist Gernd Arntz, who called them “Isotypes” for short. The round-headed man became popularly known as “Helvetica Man”. By 1974, there were so many variant signs that the US Transportation Department looked at them all and came up with a single cohesive system for their use. Read more in this explanation of the history and usage of pictograms, particularly in the US National Park System. Link -via Metafilter