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Handbook of Pictorial Symbols (Dover Pictorial Archive) Paperback – November 17, 2011

by Rudolf Modley (Author), William R. Myers (Author), Diana G. Comer (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 16 ratings
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Pictorial symbols furnish travelers and motorists with important information at airports and on highways and are frequently used on packages, clothing, and appliances from around the world. The international use of these symbols is steadily increasing, and this handbook brings together 3,250 examples from numerous sources.
Here are symbols that represent children and young adults, teachers, family groups, women, men, airplanes, cars and other vehicles, farmers, crime, money and finance, government and politics, clothing, machinery, entertainment, and many other symbolic categories. Then come two sections of public symbols for telephone, restroom, coffee shops, and 32 other basic facilities, arranged first by service or facility and then by system — Department of Transportation, Netherlands Railroad, Tokyo Olympic Games, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Montreal Expo, and 20 others. Also included are symbols from additional systems, such as European Road signs, U.S. Weather Bureau Cloud Code Charts, and the Netherlands Statistical Foundation Symbols by G. Arntz. A detailed table of contents and an index direct users to specific symbols.
Unequaled for its breadth and ease of use, this comprehensive sourcebook is a necessity for anyone working in the field of pictography. It is also a primary source for graphic artists who must convey information to an international audience. Anyone interested in the development of universal graphic symbols will find this book a treasury of essential material.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    160 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Dover Publications
  4. Publication date
    November 17, 2011
  5. Dimensions
    8.41 x 0.43 x 11.01 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    048623357X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0486233574
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Pictorial symbols furnish travelers and motorists with important information at airports and on highways, while more and more we see their use on packages, clothing, and appliances from around the world. The use of these symbols throughout the world is steadily increasing, and this handbook brings together in one place 3,250 examples from numerous international sources.

From the Back Cover

Pictorial symbols furnish travelers and motorists with important information at airports and on highways and are frequently used on packages, clothing, and appliances from around the world. The international use of these symbols is steadily increasing, and this handbook brings together 3,250 examples from numerous sources.
Here are symbols that represent children and young adults, teachers, family groups, women, men, airplanes, cars and other vehicles, farmers, crime, money and finance, government and politics, clothing, machinery, entertainment, and many other symbolic categories. Then come two sections of public symbols for telephone, restroom, coffee shops, and 32 other basic facilities, arranged first by service or facility and then by system—Department of Transportation, Netherlands Railroad, Tokyo Olympic Games, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Montreal Expo, and 20 others. Also included are symbols from additional systems, such as European Road signs, U.S. Weather Bureau Cloud Code Charts, and the Netherlands Statistical Foundation Symbols by G. Arntz. A detailed table of contents and an index direct users to specific symbols.
Unequaled for its breadth and ease of use, this comprehensive sourcebook is a necessity for anyone working in the field of pictography. It is also a primary source for graphic artists who must convey information to an international audience. Anyone interested in the development of universal graphic symbols will find this book a treasury of essential material.
Dover (1976) original publication.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dover Publications; 1st edition (November 17, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 048623357X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0486233574
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.41 x 0.43 x 11.01 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

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  1. Rudolf Modley

    Rudolf Modley

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  2. William R. Myers

    William R. Myers

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
16 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Maggie Dayton
5.0 out of 5 stars interesting book
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2013
Verified Purchase
extremely visually graphic- I bought to use the symbols in repeat as patterns. Exactly what I wanted! I would recommend
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RAYSOUTH
2.0 out of 5 stars VERY BASIC.
Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2009
Verified Purchase
Good selection of symbols. Just a bit lacking for what I was seeking. Most symbols are available in any clip art program.
Not bad, just not what I wanted.
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Matthias
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book. Can't beat the price
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2015
Verified Purchase
Great book. Can't beat the price.
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Mark Koerner
5.0 out of 5 stars A Visionary Book
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2001
HANDBOOK OF PICTORIAL SYMBOLS (1976) is an expanded, updated version of Modley's earlier book, 1000 PICTORIAL SYMBOLS (1942). Like its predecessor, the HANDBOOK shows us that a truly pioneering, insightful mind actually can see the way the future looks. // In his introduction, Modley argues that pictorial symbols are in some respects superior to words as a form of communication because they can be understood by people from around the world. In a globalized economy, he predicts, such symbols will ultimately supplant "Men," "Women," "Hotel," "Taxi," and "Camping," among many other words. This is the world we live in now. Modley could have actually strengthened his Case For Symbols by pointing out that such pictures can be recognized by children literally years before they learn to read, and that symbols can be recognized more quickly than words, making them especially useful in situations where fast reactions are necessary (e.g., control panels in airplanes.) // Most of the HANDBOOK is a collection of pictorial symbols, some created by Modley himself and others devised by various bureaucratic organizations, including the International Olympic Committee. If anything stands out about these symbols, it is that Modley's own are richer and more interesting than anyone else's. They have a thirties-modern look that has more charm than anything the British Airports Authority could come up with.
8 people found this helpful
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Douglas Crockford
5.0 out of 5 stars Rudolf Modley
Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2000
Rudolf Modley, symbolman and graphic designer, was a student of Otto Neurath [ISOTYPE]. One of the best examples of the application of this material is his _A History of the War in Maps, Pictographs, and Words_ [1943] which is out of print but easy to find.
5 people found this helpful
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Chucutrão de Comodo
5.0 out of 5 stars So gooood!
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2005
It's a must have if you care for icons. Wish it was hardcover.
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E. Yetter
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2001
An excellent source of images that can be used for making charts, website buttons, newsletters. The designs are clean and can easily be modified. I personally enjoy just looking through the images as they are very inspiring.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Romualdo
3.0 out of 5 stars Buena relación calidad-precio aunque no cumple las expectativas
Reviewed in Spain on April 12, 2013
Verified Purchase
Como aficionado al mundo de los pictogramas este libro me ha decepcionado un poco, sobre todo la primera parte que es muy repetitiva. Si bien como documento histórico tiene su valor. Recomendable para quien quiera tener ejemplos de pictogramas realizados en los años 60 y 70.
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thomas e
4.0 out of 5 stars very useful, but slightly dated, and a bit repetitive
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 3, 2014
Verified Purchase
I needed to develop some pictograms to represent social groups and families in statistics for a client, and found the Handbook to be a very useful starting point and source of inspiration, helping me to see ways of pick identifying features, reduce visual complexity and create a uniform style in the designs I was doing (which varied from "totally cribbed from the book", to "designed from scratch but in-line with the ones nicked from the book"). It was a great time-saver, and compared well with the Internet's equivalent Noun Project (by way of comparison, the Handbook offers a more consistent representational style, at least within each section; while The Noun Project tends to look more disparate and slightly more formulaic/amateurish at times).

The downside of the Handbook is that it is definitely dated; this particularly affects the first section (Pictograph Corporation Symbols from the 1930s) and especially its representations of children (all in short breeches and flat caps), work (typing pools, travelling salesmen, maids/servants, WW1 soldiers), modes of transport (maybe still relevant to Cuba). This makes many of the pictograms in those sections a curiosity rather than a scan/copy/paste resource.

The second section of the book, Public Symbol Systems is more up-to-date but fairly repetitive (who knew there were 20 almost imperceptibly different ways of drawing a coffee cup? And 20 more of ice-skaters?).

My main wish was that the pictograms in the book had covered more ground - more types of work/industry, and more abstract concepts would have been a great help for me, for example - though I suppose I might have been expecting a bit too much.

In summary, the book is a very useful and interesting addition to a designer's library, but doesn't necessarily solve all your problems for you. Unless you need to draw a coffee cup, that is.
2 people found this helpful
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