Pictogram System vs Postage Stamp Design
案内用ピクトグラム / 切手のデザイン
Pictogram System comes from Information Design and Postage Stamp Design from Public Design. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.
Pictogram System
Unified symbol systems that name facilities and actions without language. Tokyo 1964 systematized sport and wayfinding symbols; the AIGA/DOT transportation set became the public-domain world standard.
Postage Stamp Design
Since the Penny Black, the state's face engraved into a few centimeters. Intaglio precision, the perforated edge and denomination formulas, and national image policy lodge maximum institution in minimum paper.
| Pictogram System | Postage Stamp Design | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 1964– | 1840– |
| Family | Information Design | Public Design |
| Kind | Style | Style |
| Cues | Geometrized human figures / Uniform stroke weight / Consistency as a system / Independence from language | Intaglio precision / Denomination and country formulas / The perforated edge / The nation condensed |
| Best used for | Guiding visitors of many languages through a venue without words · Turning facility or sport categories into marks legible from a distance | Small paper pieces that must carry institutional standing, passes or keepsakes · Series printing where each small piece speaks for a place or theme |
| Type | Draw every mark on one grid and stroke weight, human proportions shared | Value and issuer in a fixed corner, never crossing the image |
| Composition | Fit all symbols to a square frame with matched margins and optical center | The image inside an upright frame with a thin margin all round |
| Material | Single color silhouettes, minimum size and viewing distance decided first | Fine intaglio line, or a die cut imitating the perforated edge |
| Caution | Drawing each mark as a picture lets stroke and proportion drift, the set stops reading as a system, and meanings swap at a distance. | Running the image to the edge without allowing for where the perforation cuts means the subject loses a piece when the sheet is torn apart. |