Glyphs rise above language and culture
Glyphs are graphical symbols that are more or less universally used. Typical are the plus and the minus signs in mathematics. Margaret Mead, the American Anthropologist, suggested them as a means of a new international language. As a “Graphic Designer,” I like the particular meaning of Glyph as a symbol that is supposedly independent of language and culture. The Ancient Greeks had a word for most of today’s needs. The glyph is a Greek word meaning carving. Glyphs should carve a road to international communication.
“Visually perceptible figure with a particular meaning used to transmit information independent of language.”
ISO 22727
Glyphs are Good for You
Language often stands in the way of useful cooperation and understanding between world nations. The idea is to promote international understanding by breaking down language barriers through glyphs.
There are 3 aspects to Glyph or the use of a symbol for design purposes;
Meaning: The message the symbol is intended to convey.
Function: The purpose of the information to be conveyed by a graphical symbol.
Image Content: The visual elements of the graphic symbol.
Example of Meaning, Function, Image Content
Meaning: General Warning sign, is used to alert the user to potential hazards.
Function: All safety messages that follow this sign shall be obeyed to avoid possible harm.
Image Content: A black ‘exclamation mark’ inside a yellow triangle with a black triangular band defines a safety sign that indicates a hazard.
Web Design and Graphic Elements
Although many web design graphic elements are not registered with the International Organisation of Standardisation (ISO). How I use graphic elements in my designs are consistent with the idea of symbols that are independent of language and culture.
Some examples that glyphs found on websites, both mobile and desktop, are as follows the home icon, search icon and hamburger navigation menu. These icons have some implicit agreement but it is by no means prescriptive. However, when considering visual communication, it is important designers are aware of the conventions
The glyph does not take sides. It is not even “non-aligned”. It is rather on everybody’s side, and its greatest potential is in the promise of universal realisation of shared interests.
More Graphic Designers
-
Neville Brody (b.1957) British Art Director
Neville Brody rose to prominence during the early 1980s surge of “designerism”: a period when the British economy was considered to be expanding, marketing, promotion, and “cultural entrepreneurship” were in the air, and young culture was a money-spinner.Read More →
-
Walter Landor (1913 – 1995) Leader in Corporate Identity
Walter Landor (1913 – 1995) was a leading expert in corporate identity and brand design. His clients included Coca-Cola, Fuji Films, Philip Morris, and the World Wildlife Fund. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has dedicated a collection to him.Read More →
-
Herbert Bayer (1900 – 1985) American multi-disciplined designer
Herbert Bayer was one of the Bauhaus’s most influential students, teachers, and proponents. Most of Bayer’s photographs come from the decade 1928–38, when he was based in Berlin working as a commercial artist. He designed the show Road to Victory (1942), which would set the course for Steichen’s influential approach to photography.Read More →
-
William Dwiggins (1880 -1956) – Typographer and Design all-rounder
Dwiggins was known for his “Metro” series of typefaces, the first designed specifically for newspaper headlines. He produced that in 1929 when he won the gold medal of the American Institute of Graphic Arts.Read More →
-
Keith Haring Artwork (1958 – 1990) – art that danced
Keith Haring was best known for his graffiti-like painting, initially on the black paper used to cover discontinued billboard advertisements in the New York subway. After after a feverish 1980’s style career of surging popular success and grudging critical attention, Haring died of AIDS in 1991 at the age of 31.Read More →
-
František Zelenka (1896 – 1942) – Czech architect and stage and graphic designer
František Zelenka (1896 – 1942) was a Czech architect and stage and graphic designer. He was born in Prague. Zelenka’s career in the theatre was initiated by K.H. Hilar, the National Theatre director in Prague in 1926.Read More →
-
Lester Beall: A Pioneer in Advertising Design and Corporate Identity Systems
Lester Beall, a renowned graphic designer, was born in Kansas City in 1903 and left an indelible mark on the industry. He studied engineering and art history at the University of Chicago. Beall’s unconventional style, influenced by European artistic developments, was evident in his poster series for the Rural Electrification Administration. He was the first…
-
Saul Bass’s (1920 – 1996 ) opening and closing titles
When the Frank Sinatra film on drug addiction “The Man With The Golden Arm” opened, a Saul Bass poster dominated the cinema billboards. No words, only artwork- a jagged arm.Read More →
-
Hiroshi Awatsuji (1929 – 1995) Japanese Textile Designer
Hiroshi Awatsuji (1929- 1995) was a Japanese textile and graphic designer: born in Kyoto. He was considered the first Japanese textile designer to be recognised for contemporary design rather than for traditional art and craft. The main characteristic of his work was over sized motifs.Read More →
-
Otl Aicher (1922 – 1991), German industrial and graphic designer
From 1946 to 1947, Otl Aicher (1922 – 1991) attended the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. He later became closely affiliated with Ulm’s highly influential and radical Hochschule Für Gestaltung after founding a studio there the following year.Read More →
-
Herbert Bayer: The Bauhaus Legacy | Hardcover
The Bauhaus is still regarded as the nucleus of the early 20th-century German avant-garde, and Herbert Bayer practised its principles in the United States. It was founded in 1919 and had a profound impact on Europe and the United States. Bayer believed in the importance of the “total artist” moving between private, autonomous expression and…
-
Paris: May 1968 Posters of the Student Revolt
In the turbulent days of May 1968 in Paris, a group of artists calling themselves the Atelier Populaire created posters that were vital in spreading the call to unite student and workers. The propaganda of the French revolt was fed by immediate pressures. The day by day events – the disruption of classes at Nanterre…
-
Bob Noorda (1927 – 2010), Dutch Designer and Graphic Artist
Noorda, Bob (1927–2010) was a Dutch designer and graphic artist who studied at the Institute of Design in Amsterdam. He was a member of ADI, AGI, ICSID, Società Umanitaria, Pirelli, Vallecchi, Unimark International, and IBM. He was an artistic consultant to Vallecchi and Rinascente-Upim, and co-founded Unimark International in 1965. He designed environmental graphics for…
-
Robert Oxenaar (b.1939) Designer of Dutch Banknotes
Robert Oxenaar (1929 – 2017) Designer of Dutch banknotes and stamps. Head of the Art and Design branch of the Dutch postal service. Helped launch a new generation of Dutch designers in the 1970s, including notables like Gert Dumbar.Read More →
-
René Kieffer (1875 -1964) – French Bookbinder
René Kieffer was a gilder at the Chambolle-Duru bindery for ten years. In 1903, set up his workshop at 99 boulevard St-Germain, Paris. Later he moved to 41 rue St-Andre-des-Arts and finally, in 1910, to 18 rue Seguier. A disciple of Henri Marius Michel, his work shifted from classical forms to motifs in the Art…
-
The Impact of Alan Fletcher on British Graphic Design
Alan Fletcher was a highly regarded British graphic designer who worked for IBM, Fortune magazine, and the Container Corporation of America. Fletcher was interested in visual ambiguity and added value, investing solutions with visual surprise and wit.Read More →
-
Enid Crystal Dorothy Marx (1902 – 1998) British textile and graphic designer
Designs for London Underground seats. She studied painting and wood engraving at the Royal College of Art in London, as well as at the Central School of Arts and Crafts.Read More →
-
William Morris – Beauty of Practicality
Morris believed his responsibility was “to revive a sense of beauty in home life, to restore the dignity of art to household decoration.Read More →
-
Paul Rand (1914 -1996) – Designer who led the way
Paul Rand, was a seminal figure in graphic design who made innovative visual identities for some of America’s major corporations and book and magazine publishers We all have seen the designs of Paul Rand at some stage of our lives. He had a career spanning nearly seven decades. There is the seminal logo for IBM…
-
Walter Allner (1906–2006), an American painter and designer
Walter Allner (1906–2006) was an American painter and designer known for his creativity, artistic skill, and imagination. He was trained at the Bauhaus under Josef Albers, Wassily Kandinsky, and Joost Schmidt and used bold colours, strong typography, and striking imagery in his designs.Read More →
