Symbol System Process Book Communication Design 1, Fall 2014 | Oscar Fernรกndez, Instructor
Alisa Strauss
Contents The Symbol System
1
Client and Problem Statement
2
Referent Definitions
3
Analysis: Gerd Arntz’s Signs and Symbols
4
Image Research
5
Icon Sketches—Explorations
7
Icon Research—Drawing Survey
8
Sketches
9
Refined Sketches
10
Refinement Process
11
Main Symbol Set
13
Root+Determinant Symbols
21
Utilitarian Symbols
23
Application of Symbol System
25
The Symbol System This is the complete set of icons developed for the National Museum of Natural History’s Department of Entomology to use throughout their museum for wayfinding, on their web site, and on gift shop items.
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Client: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Department of Entomology The National Insect Collection includes over 35 million specimens representing over 300,000 species. It is the world’s second largest entomological collection. These holdings enable original scientific research on the evolution of insects, inter-relationships between insects and their allies, medically and agriculturally significant species, and the identification understanding of insect pests. The Department of Entomology at the National Museum is includes museum specialists and research scientists from the Smithsonian Institution, the USDA Systematic Entomology Lab, and the Walter Reed Biosystemics Unit of the Department of Defense.
Problem Statement: The Smithsonian Department of Entomology houses vast, complex collections. They require a unified symbol system to be used in a variety of contexts to label the different sections of their collections. The icons to be designed first include: • • • •
Arachnida Coleoptera Diptera Hemiptera
• • • •
Hymenoptera Lepidoptera Odonata Orthoptera
The symbol system may be used in several contexts including: • In the museum on directional signs • On museum maps handed out to visitors • Online in the museum’s web site as elements to guide visitors to different sub-pages describing collections and research departments • On merchandise sold in the museum’s gift shop to raise money to support the museum and it’s ongoing research and exhibit development.
Client and Problem Statement This is the problem statement outlining the needs of the client for whom the symbol system was designed.
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Arachnida Coleoptera Diptera
a class having eight jointed legs, no wings, or antennae. Includes spiders, scorpions, and mites. an order of insects with a hard, thick pair of wings that cover the other pair when not in use. Beetles.
an order of insects having one pair of membranous wings. Two-winged flies.
Hemiptera Hymenoptera Lepidoptera Odonata Orthoptera
an order of insects known as true bugs that share a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts. Includes aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and cicadas. an order of insects having four membranous wings (when present), chewing mandibles, and ovipositors that are often modified into stingers. Bees, wasps, & ants.
an order of insects characterized by four membranous wings covered in scales. Includes butterflies and moths.
an order of predatory insects with long, slender bodies, large eyes, and two pairs of transparent membranous wings. Includes dragonflies and damselflies. an insect order with large heads, chewing mouthparts, hind legs modified for jumping, and often the ability to make sound with their wings. Includes crickets and grasshoppers.
Referent Definitions Symbols are designed to represent referents, word(s) for real world objects, places, activities, or concepts. In this case, the referents are entomological classifications used by the Smithsonian Department of Entomology.
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A
B
C
D
E
The International System of Typographic Picture Education was developed by Otto Neurath and Marie Reidemeister under the name of Viener Methode der Bildstatistik (The Vienna Method) in the 1920s. Neurath wanted to communicate accurate facts about the modern world—he believed that information could bring about progress. Neurath also thought that visual symbols could help convey information to everyone, regardless of educational level or cultural background. In order to democratize life, Neurath wanted to crete a new visual language. This is why he hired Gerd Arntz, a German printmaker and painter. Arntz, once convinced to take on his role with Neurath’s project, joined a team of artists, statisticians, and cartographers. Arntz’s first job was to create a series of linocuts for a symbol dictionary, which were featured in Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft (1930). This was the beginning of the isotype designs that Arntz created over the years. Working with Neurath, Arntz designed pictograms to represent every aspect of life. To better convey information, Arntz drew simplified images that would be instantly recognizable, without unnecessary detail. It is for this reason that precise details, like facial features, are not included in his designs. This was not a personal decision, Neurath, who commissioned Arntz’s work, thought that “it is better to remember simplified images, than to forget exact figures.” Arntz’s isotypes can be grouped into broad categories including people, nature, products, industry, architecture, mobility, food, work, and more. An examination of the symbols created to depict people and nature reveal some interesting similarities and differences. The overall feel of the symbols (i.e. line weight, use of solid vs. outlined forms, use of curved and straight lines) is consistent both within each symbol group and between the groups giving the feel of a unified symbol system. Also uniting all the people and nature symbols, exaggerated simplicity in the illustrations which includes the elimination of unnecessary details like human and animal facial features. Also common between the two groups, the technique Arntz uses to depict large numbers of animals--herds or crowds of humans, cows, and sheep are depicted through clustered repetition of the singular form. Interestingly, this is not how Arntz chose to represent large numbers of plants; trees and grasses are repeated in spaced out pattern form. Arntz’s designs did serve to bring a sense of humanity to the normally cold realms of statistics and cartography. Unfortunately, some of what makes the images so engaging is both cultural and dated. This phenomenon can be seen by examining a variety of his symbols. Images like the corn (figure A) are timeless, but images like the factory (figure B) and the telephone (figure C), while recognizable, are very dated. Other examples of Arntz’s designs, while aesthetically pleasing, are a bit more inscrutable. What is product is depicted in figure D? Is it a button? If so, why are two of its holes filled in? And what is happening in figure E? Is it the hand of god? Should we be petting the children?
Analysis: Gerd Arntz’s Signs and Symbols To gain awareness of a relevant design history achievement, research was done on the work and life of Gerd Arntz, the designer who was tasked with making the pictograms and visual signs for Isotype, the International System of Typographic Picture Education.
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Image Research The first phase of resarch into the referents was to explore the variety of insects in each category in order to determine what features of each class were most representative of the category.
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Image Research
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Icon Sketches—Explorations A number of sketches were made to try explore the forms that could represent each entomological category. These were done with a sharpie in one-inch squares to force the creation of simplified images.
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Icon Research—Drawing Survey Another part of the icon research used in forming the set of entomology icons was to have non-designers draw what they thought of when they were told the name of an insect category. The results were useful because they showed what the viewer thought of when they visualized types of bugs.
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Sketches Using the information about each referent acquired through defining, thumbnail sketches, and drawing surveys of others, sketches of potential icons were drawn.
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Refined Sketches More successful sketches were taken into Adobe Illustrator where they were drawn digitally.
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Refinement Process To provide an overview of the stages involved in the development of each icon in the symbol system. these pages show the refinement process followed through all of the varying stages for two of the insect categories, Hemiptera, or true bugs (top row), and Lepidoptera, butterflies and moths (bottom row).
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Refinement Process The stages of the refinement process followed for the development of all symbols in this system follow that seen here which consists of (from left to right) image research, ideation sketching, drawing survey, icon sketches, digital line drawings of icon, and finally, a final vector images of the icons.
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Main Symbol Set—Hymenoptera Alisa Strauss | Fall 2014 | Symbol System Design | Page 13
Main Symbol Set—Orthoptera Alisa Strauss | Fall 2014 | Symbol System Design | Page 14
Main Symbol Set—Hemiptera Alisa Strauss | Fall 2014 | Symbol System Design | Page 15
Main Symbol Set—Diptera Alisa Strauss | Fall 2014 | Symbol System Design | Page 16
Main Symbol Set—Coleoptera Alisa Strauss | Fall 2014 | Symbol System Design | Page 17
Main Symbol Set—Odonata Alisa Strauss | Fall 2014 | Symbol System Design | Page 18
Main Symbol Set—Lepidoptera Alisa Strauss | Fall 2014 | Symbol System Design | Page 19
Main Symbol Set—Arachnida Alisa Strauss | Fall 2014 | Symbol System Design | Page 20
Root + Determinant Symbols—Ancient Insects Alisa Strauss | Fall 2014 | Symbol System Design | Page 21
Root + Determinant Symbols—Edible Insects Alisa Strauss | Fall 2014 | Symbol System Design | Page 22
Utilitarian Symbols—Lost & Found Alisa Strauss | Fall 2014 | Symbol System Design | Page 23
Utilitarian Symbols—Service Pets Allowed Alisa Strauss | Fall 2014 | Symbol System Design | Page 24
Application of Symbol System One of the applications of this symbol system will be to help users find the information they need on the Department of Entomology’s web site more easily. An example of how the icons could be integrated into their homepage is above. These same icons would also be used within the museum to facilitate wayfinding providing visitors with consistent symbols both online and in person to direct them to where they want to go.
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Application of Symbol System Merchandise sold in the National Museum of Natural History raises money to support the work of the museum, including the Department of Entomology. The graphic nature of the icons in the symbol system make them ideal for use on items that visitors are likely to purchase. Examples of potential products seen here include a key ring, a canvas tote bag, simple t-shirt, an insulated mug, a shirt printed with a pattern made out of a symbol, a sippy cup, and a pillow. Alisa Strauss | Fall 2014 | Symbol System Design | Page 26
Created and designed by Alisa Strauss. This work was completed as part of her Master of Design coursework with Oscar Fernรกndez at the University of Cincinnati, College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, Fall 2014.