Signs, symbols and icons

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 2 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #1,635 in Arts , #32,918 overall

Signs, symbols and icons is a module in visual thinking school, a course designed to help you learn how to think and communicate better using the visual part of your brain.

Signs and symbols rapidly communicate meaning. They are a visual shorthand for communicating universal concepts with much more richness than words alone.

Research has demonstrated that pictures and words, when tightly linked, result in more knowledge transfer than traditional page layouts. Signs, symbols and icons are ways to represent a complete thought in a simple way.

Because they are simple and can be quickly understood, they can be used in a modular way. Signs, symbols and icons can be combined to create maps and diagrams, just like words can be formed into sentences.

Sign delicacies 

Loading Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

Symbols 

Like a sign, a symbol stands for something. But a symbol tends to be richer in meaning. A symbol is usually an image or physical object that represents something intangible, hard to define, or rich in meaning.

 by Paraschiv Alexandru

Red  -  Interaction A5 - B5 by h.koppdelaney

Red - Interaction...

bus line by twicepix

bus line

attention by twicepix

attention

attention by twicepix

attention

atm by twicepix

atm

shell by twicepix

shell

kein vortritt by twicepix

kein vortritt

ahead by twicepix

ahead

automatically generated by Flickr

Symbol delicacies 

Loading Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

Icons 

Most people today think of an icon as a small sign or symbol on a computer desktop. An image or symbol that has sacred significance can also be called an icon.

Smiling or Smoking? by yui*

Smiling or Smoking?

Best airport pictogram. by ninastoessinger

Best airport pictogr...

Autumn taxi by tuppus

Autumn taxi

Male toilet pictogram by Frankie Roberto

Male toilet pictogra...

Female toilet pictogram by Frankie Roberto

Female toilet pictog...

Hunters by quinn.anya

Hunters

Hunter parking only by quinn.anya

Hunter parking only

The moment of dancing by haamyounghoon

The moment of dancin...

Proof of Payment Required beyond this point by Oran Viriyincy

Proof of Payment Req...

automatically generated by Flickr

Icon delicacies 

Loading Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

Iconglobe 

Iconglobe is a blog that publishes photographs of icons shot from signs around the globe.

Loading Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

Visual thinking practice 

Icons
This exercise improve your ability to distill ideas down into simple visual icons.

Icon links 

How to draw a computer icon
A tutorial explaining how to draw a computer desktop icon in seven steps.

Good books about signs, symbols and icons 

Signs and Symbols: Their Design and Meaning

Amazon Price: (as of 11/27/2009) Buy Now

Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols

Amazon Price: $32.97 (as of 11/27/2009) Buy Now

The Icon Book: Visual Symbols for Computer Systems and Documentation

Amazon Price: (as of 11/27/2009) Buy Now

Man and His Symbols

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 11/27/2009) Buy Now

A Dictionary of Symbols

Amazon Price: $14.93 (as of 11/27/2009) Buy Now

Next mini-course module 

Information design
Information design is the discipline of developing structures which allow people to find information that's relevant to them, and use it to make decisions which enhance their lives.
Return to main
Go back to the visual thinking school home page.

by dgray

Dave Gray is the founder and CEO of XPLANE, the visual thinking company. The company's vision was formed and continues to be driven by Dave's passion...

(more)

Explore related pages

Create a Lens!