Pictogram System

案内用ピクトグラム / 1964– / Style / Information Design

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.

Geometrized human figures / Uniform stroke weight / Consistency as a system / Independence from language

Dictionary entry

Best used for
Comparing primary sources and canonical works · Extracting principles that transfer to other media
Type
Observe the letters, signs and scale of reference works
Composition
Extract the one structure that governs gaze and information
Material
Verify the materials and behaviors specific to era, region and process
Caution
Don't reduce it to surface signs. Verify the context of era, region, technology and makers.
Further study
Masaru Katzumie and Tokyo 1964 / Otl Aicher's Munich 1972 / AIGA/DOT, 1974

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