What Is Graphic Symbolism?

I was once asked "what is graphic symbolism?" In order to answer such a question we must first begin by delineating the meaning of such a term to it's base definition and then broaden that to cover what exactly it is that we mean by "graphic symbolism" in terms of graphic design. The basic definition of "graphic symbolism" would as simple as can be put be, the practice of representing a concept, object, activity, place or event by forms of graphic representation be they typographic, photographic or illustrative.

If in terms of the idea of illustrative graphic symbolism we would be speaking of pictography. Pictography by definition is a form of writing in which a picture represents a word or idea. This could be said to be the practical foundation of typography itself when a letterform created in conjunction with other letterforms creates a word that becomes the signifier for an idea, concept or object. But I digress that we in this base case of "graphic symbolism" should state that we are speaking of the pictographic language of the graphic representation of ideas, concepts, objects or actions.

The most successful modern interpretation of "graphic symbolism" is one that everyone everywhere is familiar with, because face it everyone poops, and that is the modern Restroom sign
.

Otl Aicher initially created this “graphic symbolism” when he was commissioned to create the signage for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. Otl set out to create an international language of pictographic symbols that a unified international audience could read, understand and respond appropriately to.

Here is a sample of Aicher's pictograms from icographic magazine.

If in discussing "graphic symbolism" we are looking for the ability to communicate effectively with any range of audience be they a subcultural division with it's own syntactical signifiers or to that of the broader audience (sometimes called the lowest common denominator) we must keep the words of Otl Aicher in mind "Design must surrender to practical criteria." A failure to do this in the realm of "graphic symbolism" can be found in a photo I took while in San Francisco of the warning label on a dumpster.


The image shows the conventional idea that these objects should not be submitted into this bin. It however fails if the person reading the label doesn't have a cultural reference to what these objects may be. Aicher's work became emblematic for the pictographic language he strove to communicate with, however it was created in context of a specific audience that would have a previous knowledge of what they were looking at and for in the illustrative representations of the signage.

The most current and prominent failure of "graphic symbolism" is when the image used is no longer culturally significant. At any firehouse in the United States you are most likely going to be greeted with this image in order to warn you that your travel may be impeded by the need for a fire truck to gain access to the roadway.

Since the usage of Hook and Ladder fire trucks has gone the way of the Dodo it seems in and of itself entirely redundant to warn people of something they may or don't know what it is. It is in these cases that the reinterpretation of the symbol used or perhaps an overhaul of graphic language needs to be addressed.

So what is "graphic symbolism"? Well honestly in an ever-changing visual culture it may be entirely worthwhile to ask, what isn't "graphic symbolism"? Anything that can be represented by means of illustration, photography or typography is quite simply "graphic symbolism."