Signs and Symbols in Graphic Communication - Martin Krampen (1965)

Key Quotes:

• 'Effective graphic communication should leave no room for different interpretations. Its function is to communicate a message in the most effective, direct way. Thus in graphic communication, the application of signs and symbols has become increasingly important.' - p.4
• 'Visual communication is more widespread than ever. Pictorial signs are used, for example, to teach language to children, to communicate helpful information across language barriers to people in underdeveloped countries, and to persuade the sophisticated urbanite to choose brand X rather than brand Y.' - p.6
• 'once a decision has been reached to use pictorial signs or symbols, the design itself becomes a problem. How much detail should a pictograph contain? What graphic technique should be used for a new symbol? Is the symbol "strong" enough to communicate in the presence of distracting "visual noise?"' - p.6
• 'Visual Communication... can be seen as an attempt to inform or persuade, aimed primarily at the eye of the receiver.' - p.8

Graphic Communication and Perception

• 'Perceptual psychology helps us lay the theoretical groundwork by telling us what causes the perceiver to see the graphic forms as a recognizable figure, distinct from its background.' - p.9
• 'Thus we learn that the boundary or contour of the figure is of paramount importance. Such boundaries or edges of both objects in space and silhouettes or outlines on paper have one important feature in common: at these edges, a more or less abrupt change in luminosity takes place. That is, each time our eyes are confronted with a sufficiently sharp break in luminosity, we tend to see the edge or boundary of a surface. This mechanism of perception is the reason that silhouettes and outline drawings can func- tion as substitutes for three-dimensional arrangements.' - p.9
• 'Most edges that function as object boundaries refer only to one surface in one direction at a time. An exception is the so-called "reversible figure" in which figure and ground appear to alternate as one inspects the picture. Two edges moving in opposite directions in a sign will form contradictory perceptions, as in the so-called "impossible objects."'' - p.9
• 'the entire configuration or organization of the picture (the "Gestalt") that deter- mines what will be perceived as figure and what as ground.' - p.9

Graphic Communication and Semantics - Signs in graphic communication 

• C. W. Morris - Signs, Language and Behaviour (1946) - p.12
• 'Since logograms are independent of speech sounds, they have the important property of communicating across language barriers.' - p.12-13
• 'silhouette of the man refers to the "real object" by resemblance and is called a "pictograph" 

Special Problems Imposed by the Audience - Communication with Mass Audiences of Low Literacy

• 'Suppose one were to try to show a foreign rural population how to improve its health and farming practices, how would one proceed? To distribute printed literature would be useless. Unless a large staff trained in the language of the audience were available or unless the people could be exposed to mass media (such as radio and television), the only communication possible is through pictures.' - p.17 
• Limitations? - 'research on the educational effectiveness of pictorial material used in South America in the 1950's.* These studies suggest that illustrations as such have no educational value unless their content relates to the past experience of the intended audience.' - p.17
• 'Realistic color can add to illustrations as an attention-getter, and captions should be used to extend the meaning of the picture rather than to explain it.' - p.17
• 'Thus, simplicity and realism seem to be the keys to effective pictorial communication with an audience of low literacy.' - p.17
• 'Another study conducted in rural Brazil suggests why simplicity and realism are so important.' - 'More particularly, the selection of detail was most important in making pictorial symbols more comprehensible for younger people of limited schooling. Either extreme - inclusion of unnecessary detail or deletion of important detail - reduces comprehension.' - p.18
• 'The study therefore recommends bold and clear designs containing only the necessary details and a minimum of artistic interpretation.' - p.18
• 'Arbitrary symbols (diagrams such as the dollar sign) are to be avoided because they obviously depend on prior learning.' - p.18
• 'For the design of pictorial signs used in communication with such mass audiences... the designer should follow the rule of ''simplified realism." One might profitably start from silhouette photographs of objects, perhaps printed with strong contrasts, and then by subtraction (blanking out of unnecessary detail) obtain silhouette pictographs.' - p.18

Communication with Sophisticated Audiences: The Rhetoric of Visual Communication

• 'if a graphic designer represents a photographic organization in a trade-mark by a section through a set of lenses, he uses the classical rhetorical figure of metonymy (substitution of cause for effect, sign for thing signified, etc.).' - p.18
• 'The effectiveness of metonymic symbolism will depend on the degree of popular understanding of the relation between the substitute and the object for which it stands.' -p.18

Communication with Many Language Groups Simultaneously: Conventionalized Picture Language

• 'Since the industrial revolution, the necessity to communicate across language barriers has constantly increased, new means of transportation have increased the frequency and ease of international travel. Organizations such as the United Nations, and international gatherings like the World's Fairs and Olympic Games pose special communications problems.' - p.20

The International system of typographic picture education (ISOTYPE)

• 'Another systematic attempt to design an international picture language was aimed at improving education and communicating across language barriers.' - p.23 
• 'This picture language, ISOTYPE (an abbreviation for "International System of Typographic Picture Education"), was designed by G. Arntz and E. Bernath in Austria. 
• 'ISOTYPE was designed to make minimum use of verbal symbols. According to Arntz and Bernath, ISOTYPE's designers, one glance at an ISOTYPE should reveal the most important features of the object depicted; a second glance should disclose less important features; and a third glance should add mere details. No ISOTYPE should require more than three glances to yield all its information. As correlates of these principles, unnecessary details must be omitted, nonessential variations avoided, and the message restricted to the bare minimum necessary for the desired teaching effect.' - p.23

Other pictographic systems 

• 'Olympic Games and World's Fairs, attract members of many language communities. Because a large percentage of such an audience does not understand the language of the host country, pictographs are required for giving directions, identifying services, and clarifying regulations, warnings, and so forth.' - p.24
• 'too often designers produce an entirely new picture language instead of helping to standardize already established pictographic systems (such as ISOTYPE).' - p.24
• 1965 Olympics in Tokyo - 'evident in the design is a lack of concern about whether or not the object depicted is part of the common experience of all visitors and whether there is too much or too little detail for optimal comprehensibility. In general, the pictographs departed from "simplified realism" in the direction of "oversimplified stylization."' - p.24

Summary

• 'Both pictures and words have their advantages, and admittedly, within a given language community, words are usually more effective than pictures. The main advantage that outline drawings or other pictorial "surrogates" have over verbal signs is that, like the objects they stand for, they remain constant, while the verbal labels attached to them vary from verbal community to verbal community. Hence, they are most useful in communication across linguistic groups.' - p.31