the significance of isotype(2)
DESCRIPTION
The Significance of IsotypeTRANSCRIPT
D
EnglandHolland
Austria
The Isotype Movement
exhibitions publications publications film
primary secondary
1920
1930
1940
Derun
U Moscow Amslerdam
r—iIrie Hague
I México City
I Ror.dom Rembrondt
) Die bunte WellÍGeseüichofi u. WirtschoR ¡
) Technik u. Menschheit
kBildstotistifc
Q Int picture language£ Basic by Isotype
£ Modern mon
1950
1960
1970
OiteriIcKarichciilitut lorG«i«ll«hofti undVi'ttchofliilQtiltih—
The signifícance of Isotype
Ges«llschofts- Internationa! Isotypeund Foundation InstituteWirttchafti- for VisualmuMvm Educatíon
Leipzig
O
This exhibition marks the fiftieth anniversary of thefounding of the Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseumin Wien, a museum which was set up by Otto Neurathto explain to the general public of Vienna somethingabout the social and economic issues of the day. Thismuseum was the public arena in which the ViennaMethod of pictorial statistics was developed, and outof it grew Isotype (International System Of TYpographicPicture Education). It was also fifty years ago that MarieNeurath (née Reidemeister), the longest workingmember of the Isotype team, began work at the Gesell¬schafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum in Wien. It is a strokeof good fortune that an exhibition based on the Ottoand Marie Neurath Isotype Collection, which wasdeposited in Reading University Library in 1971,couldbe organised in time to record this joint anniversary.
The story of Isotype is told very briefly in theexhibition itself and in the seven sections which form thecatalogue of this publication. There is no shortage ofinformation on the Neuraths and Isotype; some of thoseinvolved with the development of Isotype are still veryactive and, as a glance at the bibliography will reveal,much has already been written on the subject. This shortessay attempts to do no more than draw attention tosome of the most significant aspects of Isotype from thestandpoint of the graphic designer. Those interested inOtto Neurath as a person and in his social and philo-sophical ideas are recommended to read Otto Neurath,Empiricism andsociology, edited by M. Neurath and R.S. Cohén (Dordrecht, Holland, and Boston, USA; 1973).
The term Isotype Movement has been used inconnection with this exhibition to describe the activitiesand influence of Otto Neurath and his team and, afterhis death in 1945, those of Marie Neurath. This term isnot altogether satisfactory, but since the word Isotypewas not coined until the mid 1930s it is not strictlycorrect to use it on its own in relation to work producedbefore this time in Vienna and elsewhere. Seen from thestandpoint of today the term Isotype Movement assumesan additional meaning because the principies of Isotype(or some of them) have been adopted by other designers,not all of whom have had direct links with Otto andMarie Neurath. On the other hand, it should be stressedthat those who worked with Otto Neurath in Vienna inthe 1920s would hardly have seen themselves as formingpart of any large-scale movement. The approaches tographic communication adopted in Vienna were verymuch the result of the enthusiasm, intelligence and
tenacity of one man, and it is only retrospectively thatthey can be seen as forming part of an Isotype Movement.
Graphic design stemmingfrom socialneeds
One of the most interesting aspects of the IsotypeMovement is that it was begun by someone who was nottrained as a graphic designer or artist. It is true thatOtto Neurath gleaned all he could at an early age fromthe illustrated books and prints in his father's extensivelibrary, but his only formal training in drawing was acourse in perspective - an aspect of pictorial represent¬aron which he specifically rejected in Isotype work.What Otto Neurath did have, however, was the fore-sight to engage as team workers people such as MarieNeurath and Gerd Arntz who had received some visualtraining and were receptive to his general approach.
The brief biography of Otto Neurath on page 18is sufficient to show that his formal education wasprimarily in the field of traditional academic subjects.When he was appointed director of a new Museum onWar Economy in Leipzig towards the end of the FirstWorld War he would almost certainly have describedhimself- using the terminology of today - as a socialscientist. It was in this capacity too that he became theGeneral Secretary of a co-operative for one-familyhousing in Vienna and later, in 1925, director of theGesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum in Wien. Hetherefore approached graphic design as it should be
approached, as a means to an end rather than as an endin itself. The end as far as Otto Neurath was concernedwas quite clear: to edúcate the people of Vienna andelsewhere in social and economic matters in order topave the way for social change.
The Isotype Movement is, in my view, an excellent
example of innovation in graphic design resulting froman attempt to meet social needs. A number of importantdevelopments in graphic design have stemmed from
changes in society or attempts to change it, and havebeen associated with efforts to unify political or relig-ious communities. Others have been associated withwar and the need for efficient communication in battle -
indeed, some of the most remarkable innovations inpictorial communication have been in maps, plans andcharts designed for use in connection with war. But the
Isotype Movement provides the best example I knowof graphic design innovations stemming from the needfor social reconstruction.
In Austria after the First World War there wasmuch that needed to be done. With the collapse of theoíd Habsburg Empire, Vienna and Austria as a wholewere in difficult straits. They were deprived of resources,there were shortages of food and housing which threat-ened to undermine public health, and inflation wasrunning at an alarming rate. It is against this back-ground that we have to see Otto Neurath's contributionsto graphic design. He wanted to bring to the man in the
street an awareness of the social and economic issuesof the time in Vienna, and to draw attention to these bymaking comparisons between the present and the pastand between Vienna and other cities. 'When a Viennesecitizen enters this museum,' wrote Otto Neurath of theGesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum in Wien,'... hefinds reflected his problems, his past, his future- himself.This does not mean that the museum limits itself tolocal interests; on the contrary, it provides the settingof world-historical relationships within which theindividual discovers the decisive influences on his own
fortunes. Take this matter of housing, for example: theaim is not to show what a particular building projectlooks like, but to help the citizen see the different typesof homes that are included in the plan for the city'sdevelopment, realize for what groups of the populationthese different types are intended, how they are goingto modify the lives of people, to what extent they are
going to help in improving health, reducing mortality -
especially that of infants-and so on.'1The central themes which concerned the Isotype
Movement in its early days in Vienna - housing, health,social administration, and education - were also takenup in later periods and other countries. Health education,for instance, was taken up on an international front inthe 1930s with the major publicity campaign to combattuberculosis which was promoted by the NationalTuberculosis Association of America. The theme ofhousing was returned to after the Second World War inEngland when Otto Neurath was involved with a housingproject for Bilston Borough Council, and that of socialadministration in the charts explaining the BeveridgePlan and the campaign to show the people of the Western
Región of Nigeria how their new Government andelectoral system worked. The themes of housing, health,social administration and education were, of course,inextricably linked with one another and many Isotypecharts were designed to show such relationships. Acommon factor in all of them was education. The interestin education runs right through the work of the IsotypeMovement over a period of fifty years, and Otto andMarie Neurath must be seen as important pioneers inthe field of visual education in a period which, initially,was not particularly receptive to the idea of learningthrough the eyes.
To those who are not closely connected with
graphic design it may seem self-evident that a designer
GEBURTEN UND STERBEFALLE IN WIEN
1912-15
&&&&&&&
1916-19
m&m&1920-23
1924-27
U4é¿é¿4&i¿JedesKind-20.000 Lebendgeburten Jeder Sorg.20.000Sterbefalle
Chart design edby the Isotype team in Vienna in the 1920s, from Bildstatistik nach Wiener Methode in der Schule (Vienna, 1933)
8should be concerned with fulfilling particular needs (andusually ones which have little or nothing to do with hisdesire to express himself); but this has not always beenunderstood by designers. The significance of the IsotypeMovement in this respect is that its members approachedgraphic communication with very clear objectives inmind and then set about trying to achieve them by agradual process of trial and error. No passage in OttoNeurath's writing illustrates better his view that the
designer should consider his responsibilities to societythan a perceptive passage he wrote in connection witharchitecture in his book Lebensgestaltung und Klassen-kampf{Yizñm, 1928): 'The architect more than any othercreative person must seek to anticípate the future. If hebuilds a house responsibly he must consider the changesof the immediate future, not only technical changes butalso changes in the form of life.'2
Otto Neurath 's beliefin picture language
Otto Neurath made it quite clear in his writings that hesaw picture language as an additional language - ahelping language as he called it - to be used along withother languages according to circumstances. He recog-nised that there were some things that could not besaid through pictures, and others that could be said onlywith great difRculty through them; but he also believedthat in certain situations pictures could speak more
clearly, and with a greater chance of their message beingremembered, than numbers or words.
He strongly resisted the idea which prevailed atthe time, and probably still prevails, that it is the writtenword that really matters and that pictures need not betaken very seriously. Throughout his life he was con¬cerned with lucidity of expression in verbal languagebecause he believed it was essential for effective commun¬ication ; but he applied himself with equal dedication tothe idea of lucidity of expression in visual language. Hehad come to grips with Basic English in order to writetwo small books for C. K. Ogden {Internationalpicturelanguage, 1936; Basic by Isotype, 1937), and found muchthe same need for clarity of thinking when using picturelanguage as when writing in Basic English:'... the pic¬ture language is an education in clear thought', he wrote,'- by reason of its limits.'3 For Otto Neurath, picturelanguage had a further advantage in that it was lessemotive than verbal language because the images usedhad not acquired the overtones words had acquired.
The use of the acronym Isotype (InternationalSystem Of TYpographic Picture Education) gives specialemphasis to the international nature of picture language.This is, of course, an important aspect of picture lang¬uage, and Otto Neurath's statement that 'pictures make
connection, words make división' was primarily meantto underline the importance of picture language in aninternational context. The valué of picture language hassince been demonstrated in certain specialised fields
internationally, such as road signs and the symbolsassociated with international travel; it is also true to say
Where to put your boxes
Where to get your boxes
Ulustration from Otto Neurath, international picture language(London, 1936)
that some of the difficulties involved in the use of anykind of international language are now better understoodthan they were forty years ago.
The usefulness of picture language from the pointof view of international communication should notobscure its other, perhaps rather more important,
attributes in terms of'makingconnections'. OttoNeurath believed that picture language was effectiveacross a wide range of ages and abilities and that a goodpictorial chart could speak as clearly (though probablyat different levéis) to a young child as to an intelligentadult. As a member of the Vienna Circle and, later,founder of the Unity of Science Movement he also saw
picture language as helping to satisfy the need for acommon approach to knowledge which bridged thevarious specialist branches of learning. Moreover, he
saw that the structure of picture language gives it some
advantages over verbal language - which has to be linear
when spoken and is nearly always presented in a linear
manner when written. In picture language informationcan be presented in a linear fashion if need be, but it can
also be presented in many different ways so that the
user can make comparisons and see relationshipsbetween things more easily. Isotype, Otto Neurath
claimed,'... makes use of the connection of parts not inone direction only, but in two, and the efTect is a languagepicture.'4
In many ways the opportunity picture languageoffers for the making of comparisons was central toOtto Neurath's interest in it. On the simplest level, thevisual presentation of two lines of quantities allows
someone to see for himself that one item is bigger thananother. On a higher level, whole patterns of growth can
be compared one with another by reading visual 'profiles'.On the most complex level of all, as in Gesellschaft und
Wirtschaft (1930), complete charts can be designed in
series so that they can be compared in a number of
different ways. What is more, picture language facilitates
the economic, geographic, historical, and social corre-
lations favoured by those concerned with the unificationofscience.
77¡e evolution ofa syntax
Pictures had been used for the purpose of conveyinginformation long before the development of Isotype.Picture language preceded the evolution of writing anda number of societies developed their own sets of rulesin order to aid communication through pictures. Sincethe evolution of alphabetic writing in the western world
pictures have, generally speaking, played a subordínaterole to writing as far as communicating information isconcerned. It is true that until the middle of the nine-teenth century paintings usually told a story of somekind and relied on conventions of symbolism, compo-sition, gesture and facial expression to convey theirmeaning; but there were few attempts to build up comp-rehensive picture languages before the present century.Comenius was not concerned with the structure ofpictorial language, and even William Playfair, who
developed a visual approach to the representation ofquantities in the late eighteenth century which he called
Rüstungen vor dem Kriege und jetzt1913-14
USA II áMiiáMáiGROSS8RITANNIEN lili MiMMáMMÁfRANKREICH aaSSaSaiíi
ITALIEN III mamDEUTSCHES REICH 1 áíáiíi&Mé.„ tmmmtttt .....JASAN 1 1 1 ásass1928-29 t� lo ¿� t�\ l*"* lo 1*-* fc-* lo lo lo lo "
USA. •«•«•MUill Mi
BRITISCHES REICH I 1 mniíáü&&HillH
FRANKREICH 1 1 1 1 1 1 1áái
ITAUEN MéDEUISCHES REICH 1 i¡..... HHM &
tiJAPAN 1 1
..•É«á..
Jede Figur 100 000 Monn Jedes Schiff 100000 Tonnen
¡H.M*á .«.«
'lineal arithmetic', does not appear to have adopted anyfirm conventions of treatment. Similarly, the numerousnineteenth- and early twentieth-century designers whopresented statistics and other information through
pictures appear not to have considered the need to workout overall approaches. By the end of the nineteenthcentury many novel approaches had been adopted in thefield of picture language but, in general, it was as chaoticas written language was in pre-classical times when earlyGreek and Latin characters assumed a variety of orient-ations and the direction of reading and writing were notfixed.
The real significance of Otto Neurath's contri-bution in the field of picture language is that he saw theneed to establish a set of conventions in order to makecommunication easier and more effective. These conven¬tions were developed over a number of years and were
only settled upon after being tested thoroughly throughuse. However, two basic rules were formulated almostfrom the beginning of the Isotype Movement. The firstof these related to the presentation of statistics by meansof pictures and held that a sign should be used to repre-sent a certain amount of things and a greater number ofsuch signs a greater amount of things. The second was ageneral rule that perspective should not be used. Pers-pective involves making objects of the same size smalleror larger according to their distance from the viewer,which means that they cannot easily be quantified; whensomething needed to be shown in three dimensions the
Isotype team used models or isometric drawings. Inaccepting these two basic rules Otto Neurath was return-ing to the conventions of some of the earliest formalisedsystems of communication, and particularly to Egyptianwall painting and hieroglyphs which had influenced him
profoundly. Thereafter a number of other rules andconventions were established by Otto Neurath and his
100MillionenMark¡ar.rlicbeRusiungsausgobei
-8Each symbol represents 1 million radios, telephones, automobiles
Radio, Telephone, Automobiles
Chart from Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft (Leipzig, 1930)
10
Chart from Otto Neurath, Modern man in the making (London & New York, 1939)
team. They are described briefly in the section of the
catalogue called 'Principies of Isotype', and in moredetail by Otto Neurath in his book Internationalpicturelanguage.
Some people may feel that conventions of thekind adopted by the Isotype Movement limit freedomof expression unnecessarily; but consistency in approachis as desirable in picture language as it is in any commun¬ication system. Consistency helps the user to understandthe meaning of a message because it allows him to getused to the way in which information is structured; itspeeds up the assimilation of information; it enables com¬
parisons to be made between work produced in different
places and at different times; and it leads to an overall
approach to the structuring of information which makesit possible to deduce meaning through context and treat-ment in much the same way that meaning is frequentlydeduced in verbal language. From the producer's pointof view, consistency of treatment is also welcome because
it simplifies the process of making marks and cuts out
unnecessarily repetitious decision-making; moreover, itallows people to work more effectively in teams, which isessential if any large-scale enterprise is to be undertaken.
Some of the conventions adopted by Otto Neurathwere modified over the years in the light of experience,and he made it clear that they were not necessarily goodfor all time. The overriding consideration was to designsomething that worked, and Marie Neurath found it
United States and Canadá
Dofl fin fiofl fiofl fiofl Bofl Bofl BoflBofl Bofl
Bofl fiofl fiofl Bafl Bofl Bofl Bofl Bofl
Bofl fiofl
ssssgjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
@����@�@�@
Europe
Bofl Bofl Bofl Bofl Bofl Bofl Bofl Bofl l Bofl
Bofl Bofl Bofl Bafl Boa Bofl Bofl Bofl Bof
l Bofl
BBBBBBBBBBJJJJJJJJJJJJ
Soviet Union
Bofl Bofl Bofl Bofl
Latin-America
fiofl fiofl
J
Southern Territories
Bofl DbB
Jm
Far East
Bofl Bofl Bofl
j*
necessary to modify some of the conventions which hadbeen developed for use in Europe when she carne todesign material for use in the Western Región of Nigeria.This is not an indication of the weakness of the Isotypesystem; on the contrary, it emphasises that, like alleffective languages, it has a basic structure which isstrong enough to withstand modification.
Organisation ofthe team
In its heyday in Vienna in the late 1920s and early 1930sthe Isotype team consisted of some twenty-five people,which is large for a graphic design team even by present-
day standards. Otto Neurath was the inspirer, publicist,and key thinker ofthe Movement, but he remainedclosely involved with all the work being undertaken andwas ready to be consulted on any matter, howevertrivial it may have seemed. The other members ofthe
Isotype team in this period can be considered as fallinginto four main groups. First, there were the economists
historians, and statisticians who collected all the data;second, the 'transformers' who were responsible for
organising the information in visual terms so that itcould be understood easily; third, the graphic artistswho drew the symbols and other artwork and madefinal decisions relating to the placing of elements on a
11
chart; fourth, the technical assistants who did such thingsas paste down symbols, spray fíat áreas of colour, print,take photographs, make models, colour lantern slides.
Otto Neurath was successful in establishing anorganisational approach to design which is interestingfor two main reasons. In the first place, the actualstructure ofthe team clarified the stages in the process of
designing and introduced precise points when workcould be evaluated and, if necessary, modified. Secondly,the formulation of graphic rules and conventions whichcould be taught enabled his team to work as a whole and
United States, Wheat Trade
i Imports
1902-1906
1907-1911
1912-1916
led to consistency of treatment even though changeswere made in the composition and size ofthe team. Inestablishing such a clear procedure and sets of rules indesign work the Isotype Movement was doing what most
design teams today accept as essential when undertakinglarge-scale design commissions.
The transformer played a central role in the Iso¬type team and this was one ofthe outstanding innovationsofthe Movement. The transformer occupied a positionin the design process between the scholars who collectedthe data and the graphic artists who were responsiblefor the actual marks made on paper. He or she was akind of visual editor. The task ofthe transformer was toorganise the information so that it was presented as
effectively as possible and was in accord with Isotypeconventions. In the case of series of charts, it alsoinvolved organising the information in such a way that
comparisons could be made between charts. OttoNeurath has described the transformer very aptly, andwith characteristic social awareness, as the 'trusteeofthe public'. The transformer needed to be able to
1917-1921
1922-1926
1927-1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
June30
2 is is íí
lili iiiiiiiiii iiiilililí iiiiiiiiii i
MWMM?
¥■
Plllflflf |make judgements about the information itself and tohave the visual ability (though not necessarily themanual skills) to find appropriate visual forms forit. At the outset Otto Neurath provided the data, madethe transformations himself, and then handed them overto free-Iance artists; but as he built up his team these
Each symbol represents 10 million bushels of wheat and flourflourtiprn»rjmtorre.pondmgquontityo!g>oin¡
Chart from Otto Neurath, Modern man in the making (London& New York, 1939)
roles were taken over by a number of different people.Marie Neurath and Friedrich Bauermeister were the
.9
Foreign Trade in Europe¡mports fromextra -european countries trade within Europe
1929
exports to
extra - european countries
two transformers in the Isotype team in the 1920s. MarieNeurath, who was trained as a physicist and mathem-atician, and then spent a term at art school, was theteam's longest working and most experienced trans¬
former. She made all the transformations for Gesell-schaft und Wirtschaft (1930) and for many ot
her import¬
ant publications. She worked closely with Otto Neurathfor twenty years and after
his death in 1945 carried onwith the work in hand. In later years, when the team wasvery much smaller, she worked as he had done at theoutset ofthe Movement, undertaking both the gathering
¡mports from exports toextra - european countries trade within Europe extra • european countries
1935
Each line represents 1000 million dollars o( 1929 «■■
Chart from Otto Neurath, Modern man in the making (London& New York, 1939)12
ofthe information and the transforming.
The design ofIsotype charts
When looking at Isotype charts today one is first struck,I think, by their modernity of appearance; and thisimpression is reinforced when charts designed for otherpublications, such as those in Compton'spicturedencyclopedia, are seen in the context of typical graphic
design ofthe period. Why is this so? The answer lies,I believe, in the fact that the Movement was never reallyinterested in style for its own sake, but was alwaysmainly concerned with imparting information as simplyand directly as possible. In settling on a pictorialapproach to communication in the first place OttoNeurath believed he had found a language which hadsomething ofthe unemotive quality of numbers, butwhich was fascinatingenough to interest the layman.He was concerned that nothing should be included in achart that was not essential to its meaning because hefelt the inclusión of anything else might distract from themessage and destroy its overall neutrality. The organ-isation ofthe various parts of a chart and their relation-ship to one another were determined entirely by thenature ofthe information and the people for whom it wasintended. Otto Neurath's approach to graphic commun¬ication was therefore non-decorative, and it stemmedfrom the functionalist views on design ofthe period.All the same, the very best work ofthe Isotype Move¬ment has a visual quality which justifies the use ofthe
phrase 'the beauty of necessity' - an expression arisingfrom the description by George Sturt ofthe attributesof a well-designed waggon.
Some visual features of Isotype charts stem fromthe clarity of thinking that underlies all Isotype work.For instance, the practice of ranging two sets of groupsof items which have to be compared with one anotheralong a central (vertical) axis, arises from the nature ofthe data. I know of no precedent for this Isotype prac¬tice, though it is one which is now widely adoptedin typography. It is clear that this and other Isotypeinnovations were made only after considering a numberof possibilities and trying them out. Members ofthe
Profile of Family Income in Columbio, South Carolina, 1933
Isotype team had little or no formal training in the trad-itional methods of graphic communication, which meantthat they were in a good position to think things out forthemselves; and this is precisely what they did. In this
respect the Isotype Movement deserves to be consideredas one ofthe pioneers of modern graphic design. In myview it occupies much the same position in relation topictorial communication this century as the pioneers ofthe New Typography do to verbal communication.
Otto Neurath was, of course, well aware of whatwas happening generally in the field of design in otherparts of Europe. He travelled widely in connection withhis work, visited exhibitions, and read voraciously (atone stage he estimated that he read on average two books
aday). He was infairly regular contact with the staffofthe Bauhaus at Dessau through his own work andthrough the lectures he gave there as a visitor. He knewEl Lissitzky personally, and Jan Tschichold, one ofthefather figures ofthe New Typography, worked with theteam for a very short period while Gesellschaft undWirtschaft (1930) was in preparation. He was also veryquick in adopting Paul Renner's newly designed sanseriftypeface, Futura, for all Isotype charts. The views on
design of members ofthe Bauhaus were certainly wellknown to Otto Neurath because he poked fun at someof their approaches to architecture; it is hard to believetherefore that a man of his intense curiosity and love ofdiscussion did not pick up something ofthe ideas ofthose associated with the New Typography. Though theprecise dates of Tschichold's involvement with the
Isotype Movement are not known, he was working withthe team (in a fairly peripheral capacity) shortly afterhis seminal book Die neue Typographie (Berlín, 1928)was published.
income classes
$ SOCO and oveí
jtítíttltittttt* $1-499
Eoch symbol represents 2 °/oof famiiies white: whites black: Negroes
Chart from Otto Neurath, Modern man in the making (London & New York, 1939)
-y
13
The key period for the development ofthe charac-teristic Isotype approach to the design of charts was thelate 1920s when the team was concentrating attentionon its most ambitious publication, Gesellschaft undWirtschaft (Leipzig, 1930). The importance ofthe contri-butions of Marie Neurath, who was responsible for thetransformations of all charts for this publication, andof Gerd Arntz, who joined the team on a full-time basisin 1928, should be mentioned here. Much ofthe qualityofthe work ofthe Isotype Movement from a visual pointof view was due to them, and Otto Neurath's debt tothem is explicitly and generously acknowledged in hisbook Modern man in the making (New York andLondon, 1939).
The visual quality of Isotype work is difficultto describe, and can probably be fully understood onlyby those who have tried to produce similar things them-selves. It is seen most obviously in the way in which theelements of a chart are spaced so that the viewer is helpedto 'read' the information in the way or ways that wereintended. It is also seen in the drawing ofthe symbols,which show the importance of selectingessential charact-eristics and suppressing inessential ones, and in the choiceof colours and tones. Like work of quality in any field,however, Isotype charts have a beguiling simplicitywhich conceals the time and effort that must have goneinto their production.
The design ofthe symbols which appeared onIsotype charts from the late 1920s onwards was the
joint work of Otto Neurath and Gerd Arntz. OttoNeurath had seen some of Arntz's woodcuts in an exhib¬ition in Dusseldorf in 1926. These prints included avariety of highly simplified figures, drawn more or lessin silhouette, and Otto Neurath realised at once thatArntz was the person he wanted to produce the symbolsfor his charts. Previously the symbols had been drawnby hand or cut out of paper, but soon after Arntz becameinvolved with the Isotype Movement they were producedfrom lino-cuts. For a few years Arntz's contribution tothe team was limited to the sending of work to Vienna,but in 1928 he joined the team on a full-time basis andhad special responsibility for the design ofthe symbols.
Great care was taken to make sure that thesymbols could be easily recognized, were distinguishablefrom one another, and that they could be placed happilyside by side in rows. Emphasis was given to those charac-teristics which revealed the nature ofthe object, animal,or person being represented, while still keeping in mindthe need for simplicity and dignity in the silhouette ofthesymbol. In addition, outline versions were needed andsome symbols had to carry other symbols to qualifytheir meaning. The fact that Isotype symbols are sosimple, even inevitable looking, reflects great credit ontheir designers. The outsider viewing Isotype symbolstoday is usually quick to remark on the changes in theforms of cars, aeroplanes, and dress since the 1920s, andit is true, of course, that symbols for some things tend todate quickly - and much more quickly than words. Otto
Woodcut by Gerd Arntz, 1926
14
Arbeitsloser
111� SJÍ looCf ?•< fot -I»»*
ii ini
loso 10i lf¡ -l�ie 1<ílki 1¡?pj<
Sheet from the Symbol Dictionary compiled between about 1928 and 1940
15
Mann
ss? »>5 too 638
Sheet from the Symbol Dictionary compiled between about 1928 and 1940
16
Neurath was well aware of this and wrote'... the Isotypesigns are dependent on their times like all these oíd sign-languages. Later times will see what their special qual-ities are and what the conditions were which made them.'5On the other hand, the briefest survey of a selection of
symbols in use today for 'man' and 'woman' shows howtrivial and lacking in authority symbols can be whenthe main consideration is to look modern, and emphas-ises how intelligently Isotype symbols were designed.
Influence
In one sense the influence ofthe Isotype Movement hasbeen wide and can be seen today by anyone who travels,reads newspapers and magazines, looks at televisión, oris familiar with the kind of work done by children inschools. Some ofthe methods of graphic communicationdeveloped by the Isotype Movement are now acceptedas part ofthe currency of graphic language, though theyare rarely used as sensitively or intelligently as they wereby Otto Neurath and his team. There are also a numberof bodies still active today which stem directly from theIsotype Movement (see the catalogue section 'Influenceof Isotype'). But for all the general influence it has
undoubtedly had, the pioneer work done by Otto Neurathand his team in Vienna in the 1920s has for the mostpart been forgotten.
Those who have heard ofthe Isotype Movementusually know its work in the field of international
symbols. But though the International Organizationfor Standardization has been concerned in recent yearswith rationalising symbols for international use, ingeneral, the essential message ofthe Movement thatthere should be standard ways of representing things
has been ignored. What can be more irresponsible inthis context than the re-design every four years of a newset of symbols for the Olympic Games? Some designerscannot resist inventing new symbols; and in recent yearsthe need for a clearly understood graphic language whichis retained and reinforced through learning from oneGames to the next has been ignored because of national
pride and design arrogance.The lasting influence ofthe Isotype Movement is
probably seen most clearly in the field of graphic stat¬istics. During and immediately after the Second WorldWar statistics were quite frequently presented in theform of Isotype charts; and in more recent years newapproaches to teaching and learning and the increasinguse of visual media generally have been responsible fora revival of interest in graphic statistics.
The development of an international means ofcommunication based on the use of standard symbols,and the presentation of statistics by the repetition ofunits which stand for particular quantities, form only arelatively small part ofthe Isotype contribution tographic communication. The major undertakings oftheIsotype Movement, Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft (1930),the exhibition 'Rondom Rembrandt' (1938), OttoNeurath's book Modern man in the making (1939), and
the series of schoolbooks Visual history ofmankind(1947-8) all extend the range of graphic language indifferent ways. Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft showed,among other things, the possibility of producing a co-ordinated series of charts which can be compared onewith another in a number of different ways; 'RondomRembrandt' demonstrated the valué of using graphicapproaches in an historical field which, at first sight,might have seemed unsuited to them; Modern man inthe making was conceived in terms of a thorough inte-
gration of text and charts; and Visual history ofmankindrevealed the valué of intelligently selected and accuratelydrawn images as a basis for discussion and learning inschools. The real lessons ofthe Isotype Movement are
probably to be learned only after a careful study of such
major undertakings which show the importance oftheteam's general approach to design. This is the most sig-nificant contribution ofthe Movement and, inmy view,is Iikely to prove the most influential in the long run.
The output ofthe Isotype Movement as a wholedraws attention to two things which are of specialinterest to many designers today. First, it demonstratesthat successful designing depends to a large degree on
clarity of thinking; secondly, it provides support for theview that the graphic designer's primary role is to servethe needs of society. These points were made moresuccinctly by Lancelot Hogben in a review of OttoNeurath's Modern man in the making when he describedit as combining 'all that is best in Descartes and the
Daily Mirror'.
Michael Twyman
1 'Museums ofthe future', Survey graphic, vol. 22, no. 9,19332 Translated and reprinted in Otto Neurath, Empiricism andsociology, edited by M. Neurath and R. S. Cohén (Dordrechtand Boston, 1973), p. 257
3 Internationalpicture language (London, 1936), p. 22
4 Ibid, p. 625 Ibid, p. 106
17