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  1. andrewSep 1 2009 1:31 PM

    Most of these are very familiar, although I can\'t recall ever seeing the \'Exit\' pictogram.I wonder why that one never caught on....

  2. Jacob MunozSep 1 2009 2:00 PM

    The ISOTYPES were designed in the late 1930\'s by Otto Neurath and Gerd Arntz. They designed the ISOTYPE to bridge the gap between reading and seeing to help the dissemination information to the masses. Neurath\'s work helped pave the way for the icon/Helveticons.

  3. Brian DeKoningSep 1 2009 2:07 PM

    Thanks, Jacob for the info on the Isotypes. In general, this post is really interesting as I\'d never considered where these symbols come from. Thanks!

  4. RyanSep 1 2009 3:03 PM

    Look at him go up all those stairs!Wait!OMG he is traveling by magic! Uphill.Amazing, Helvetica Man, I salute you.

  5. Helvetica SuxSep 1 2009 11:09 PM

    helvetica man is cool. helvetica, not so much

  6. John QSep 2 2009 3:06 AM

    Certainly designer Otl Aicher\'s famous work for the 1972 Olympics established the pictogram sign-system, exposed it as a concept to a vast public and as well the media carried this \"new system\" in discussion further.

  7. Chris RugenSep 2 2009 12:38 PM

    I\'d like to give a little shout-out for Don and Karen Moyer, listed as \"Project Coordinators\" along with Mark Ackley and Juanita Dugdale. Karen is a faculty member at CMU\'s School of Design, focusing on typography. Don, her husband, is one of the founders of Agnew Moyer Smith, along with two other Westinghouse alums. While I don\'t know what their specific involvement was with the project, I have to believe they provided design input on some level.

  8. RosscottSep 2 2009 1:46 PM

    Gotta love this stuff.I\'ve been using this imagery (and ones based on it) in my comic for over a year now!http://www.systemcomic.com/ .I\'ve become a connoisseur of such symbols and have quite a collection.

  9. VitaniaSep 2 2009 5:16 PM

    Just got here through A Verdant Life.I see these symbols everyday and never once thought to consider who devised this international form of simple communication.

    I am off to see what else I can fill my head with here ..

  10. Karen Berlin IshiiSep 5 2009 10:06 PM

    I remember when these symbols came out. I think there was also interest in standardized symbols generated by the world\'s fairs, popular in that era, and for use at the olympics. I would be very interested in seeing a collection of the kinds of symbols that were used BEFORE these generic universal helvetica-man type images were adopted.

  11. Roger CookSep 21 2009 3:47 PM

    Thanks all for he positive comments....Chris, We enjoyed working with Don and Karen..... talented couple. They were not involved in the designing of the symbols.
    Thomas Geismar, Seymour Chwast, Rudolph de Harak, John Lees, and Massimo Vignelli functioned as our clients. The best clients one could hope to work with..
    The symbols were designed and produced by Roger Cook and Don Shanosky. They were all done without the use of a computer. In 1974 the Smithsonian Institution-Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum accepted a total of 1,030 of our items relating this project. The items included over 600 of our drawings, final art, prints, photo copies and correspondence. I still havea bunch of the sketches and final art of some of the symbols. ... Roger Cook

  12. RossmomSep 24 2009 8:38 AM

    Thanks for the info.It\'s really interesting to know how these icons originated.

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