Wipe away the confusion June 30, 2008

Great communication by Shaz Madani to promote London’s M25 motorway. On one side the poster gives exact directions that would have to be taken in order to travel from one side of London to the other, illustrating the complexity and confusion involved in taking alternative routes through the center of the city. The reverse side [...]

Gerd Arntz web archive May 31, 2008

The official fan site… here’s a brief description from the colophon:
This informative and educational website is initiated by the Ontwerpwerk design bureau in close cooperation with Peter Arntz, son of Gerd Arntz, and the Municipal Museum of The Hague, administrator of the Gerd Arntz archive.
www.gerdarntz.org

Fun with Stroop April 30, 2008

The Stroop Effect is often used to demonstrate the nature of automatic processing versus conscious visual control. It also illustrates our ability to quickly recognize word shapes based on familiarity, even more quickly than color.
This effect was first described by J. Ridley Stroop in 1935, and was demonstrated by giving participants lists of words printed [...]

a history of the stick figure February 7, 2008

Video of my talk, “a history of the stick figure” at Ignite Portland 2, February 5, 2008 at the Bagdad theatre.
Here are a few resources from the talk:
ISOTYPE charts by Otto Neurath
Stick figures as numbers. Three ISOTYPE charts shown as examples.
AIGA Symbol Signs
The complete set of 50 passenger/pedestrian symbols developed by [...]

Thanks Portland! February 6, 2008

I had a great time presenting “a history of the stick figure” at Igntite Portland 2! Thanks to everyone for the great feedback. I’ll post reference material from the talk over the next couple of days, so check back for updates or feel free to email me.

Presenting at Ignite Portland 2 January 22, 2008

I’ll be presenting “a history of the stick figure” at Ignite Portland 2, Tuesday February 5th at the Bagdad Theatre. Doors open at 5:15.
You see him everywhere – hanging around bathrooms, loitering at construction sites, and perpetually crossing the street. The ubiquitous stick figure. That little, iconic, round-headed fellow on signs that makes us think [...]

The stick figure’s tailor December 11, 2007

Gerd Arntz, Dec 11, 1900 – 1988, was the lead designer of Otto Neurath’s ISOTYPE Institute (the International System of Typographic Picture Education, 1936-1945). The Institute used “speaking signs” to visually convey complex statistical information, and made it accessible to the general public through museum installations and printed publications.
It would be fair to credit Neurath [...]

Design features of language November 27, 2007

Language is a complex skill that allows people to communicate an enormous number of messages using arbitrary symbols. Although some would argue that the use of language is central to defining humanity, the term “language” itself can be somewhat difficult to define.
Linguistic theorist Charles Hockett described sixteen design characteristics which he believed were central to [...]