Legibility and readability - An Introduction to Information Design - page 141

paign was the thrill of being on the same physical spot as someone or something historic, which
was encompassed in the campaign's 'You are Here' tagline. NB Studio sourced images from the
museum's archive and then placed them on site to produce a bold and thought-provoking piece
of design.
Cover of the Portuguese newspaper I : issue 137, 13 October 2009. I was voted the world's
best-designed newspaper by the Society for News Design in 2011. The paper delivers traditional
newspaper content by taking a magazine-like approach to engage the readers. It uses photo-
graphy and imagery particularly well, for example in the cropping of cover images to add intrigue,
as shown here.
Pictographs, icons and symbols
Information designers can use pictographs and symbols as simple representations.
They are mainly used when more complicated illustrations or photographs are unsuit-
able, such as within signage and wayfinding. It is important to understand the differ-
ence between them. Pictographs are defined as stylized images that directly resemble
an object or concept. They can be categorized into three groups. A resemblance icon
directly portrays the object it refers to, such as a steaming cup to indicate a café. Icons
signify a more abstract depiction than the object shown, for example the recycling
symbol which uses arrows to suggest the concept of reuse. A symbol is an icon that
has no relationship or resemblance to the object or concept it represents; an example
of this would be the icon for biological hazard or biohazard used to signify a health
risk.