How to decipher pictograms.

Are you an experienced Egyptologist who can read hieroglyphics fluently? Can you find your way around an airport where everything is written in Tamil and locate the toilets without any trouble? Are you an 18-month-old child who can press the right button to listen to a cheerful tune? Then there’s no doubt about it: you’re a master at deciphering pictograms.

Indeed, the purpose of a pictogram is to be understood at a glance and, unlike a logo, a pictogram does not illustrate a name but embodies a meaning that can give access to something. The pictogram thus draws its strength from its simplicity, from the graphic and schematic representation of a concept.
Simple, clear, always created using flat design and only primary colours, its role is essential in signalling the presence of something in both real space and the virtual space of the web: a place to eat, to change your baby, to watch birds, to surf, to look for a contact, to sign up for a training course, etc.

But above all, it is universal. Since Esperanto has not been as successful as hoped, where words fail to be understood (toilets are called stranišča in Slovenian – who knows why!), pictograms take over and play their role. Playing on the myth of the Tower of Babel, all over the world, regardless of language or age, it indicates, signals and leads to the right place. Very useful in places with multiple nationalities as well as in countries with high illiteracy rates, pictograms also play an essential social role.

For graphic designers, it poses a challenge similar to that faced by poets when writing a sonnet or musicians when composing a fugue: highly restrictive, extremely concentrated, reduced to the bare essentials, it leaves no room for error and must be exemplary in terms of clarity and legibility. But communicating solely through symbols – what a dream! Some graphic designers have become masters of pictograms, such as Jean Widmer, who designed the signage and visual identity for Galeries Lafayette, the Centre Pompidou and Paris Airports, and who created all the tourist signs for the European road network.

Previously used mainly in public spaces, it has now conquered print and the web, where it serves just as well as a signpost at crossroads. Still inviting graphic designers to display their unfailing virtuosity, it has been enriched by multiple developments, ranging from humorous twists to adaptations to new everyday technologies. Used wisely on a website or in a brochure, it serves as an anchor point while imposing style and creativity. In a document where space is limited, it also avoids text overload because, as Napoleon said, “A small sketch is better than a long speech”.

In short, born with writing and reinvented by each generation for ever-new applications, the pictogram is still relevant today. A true 5,500-year-old youngster!