Comments on: Infographics and Pictograms: A brief history and a little inspiration http://www.designingthenews.com/2007/12/06/infographics-and-pictograms-a-brief-history-and-a-little-inspiration/ Visual editing of headlines, stories, and newspapers Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:24:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Dave http://www.designingthenews.com/2007/12/06/infographics-and-pictograms-a-brief-history-and-a-little-inspiration/#comment-19 Dave Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:30:49 +0000 http://www.designingthenews.com/2007/12/06/infographics-and-pictograms-a-brief-history-and-a-little-inspiration/#comment-19 Excellent example! I still have a fair bit of research to do for my next post on infographics, so I'll be sure to have a look at Chinese calligraphy and include it. Cheers Jeff. Excellent example!

I still have a fair bit of research to do for my next post on infographics, so I’ll be sure to have a look at Chinese calligraphy and include it.

Cheers Jeff.

]]> By: Jeff Seager http://www.designingthenews.com/2007/12/06/infographics-and-pictograms-a-brief-history-and-a-little-inspiration/#comment-17 Jeff Seager Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:42:47 +0000 http://www.designingthenews.com/2007/12/06/infographics-and-pictograms-a-brief-history-and-a-little-inspiration/#comment-17 Interesting exploration of infographics, but you missed the very best and maybe the most ancient example still in use today: Chinese calligraphy. The written language of China (later borrowed and adapted by the Japanese), is ideographic (pictographic) in its origins and probably evolved out of some kind of early hieroglyphic. But it's also very sophisticated. An example: "Tao" is often translated into English as "way of life" or something to that effect. The symbol for "tao" incorporates three essential elements. One is a stylized representation of a human head (a rectangle with three segments for eyes, nose and mouth), and atop the head is a representation of thoughts rising upward. Alongside and underneath these two elements is a representation of a person walking. So the essential meaning conveyed by "tao" to a native speaker of Chinese would be something like "the path of wisdom." I find all this, including your own experiments, fascinating to consider. Thanks for exploring it. I'd also recommend a book to you that explores not only symbols, but archetypes. It is called "Man and His Symbols," by Carl G. Jung. A better understanding of all this will surely help us to develop better interfaces for the web ... eventually! Again, thank you. Interesting exploration of infographics, but you missed the very best and maybe the most ancient example still in use today: Chinese calligraphy. The written language of China (later borrowed and adapted by the Japanese), is ideographic (pictographic) in its origins and probably evolved out of some kind of early hieroglyphic. But it’s also very sophisticated.

An example: “Tao” is often translated into English as “way of life” or something to that effect. The symbol for “tao” incorporates three essential elements. One is a stylized representation of a human head (a rectangle with three segments for eyes, nose and mouth), and atop the head is a representation of thoughts rising upward. Alongside and underneath these two elements is a representation of a person walking. So the essential meaning conveyed by “tao” to a native speaker of Chinese would be something like “the path of wisdom.”

I find all this, including your own experiments, fascinating to consider. Thanks for exploring it. I’d also recommend a book to you that explores not only symbols, but archetypes. It is called “Man and His Symbols,” by Carl G. Jung. A better understanding of all this will surely help us to develop better interfaces for the web … eventually!

Again, thank you.

]]>