

There's an implicit tension in this blog post and in The Noun Project's overall mission that any effort to create universally understood symbols has to confront. This often involves the need to present complex information in a way that everyone can understand. When a disaster strikes, it is vital that the humanitarian community can gather reliable data on the locations and needs of affected people and who is best placed to assist them. Symbols are some of the best communication tools we have to overcome many language and cultural barriers. As The Noun Project says in its blog post introducing the set: That icon and the others I discuss here are drawn from a set submitted by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The benefits of speed of comprehension and intelligibility across languages and cultures seem to depend on a similar learning process to that any literate person goes through if, perhaps, abbreviated.įor instance, what does the icon at the top of this post, with several people standing in a V formation with a speech bubble coming out of the front-most person, represent? Take a guess and scroll down to the bottom of the post for the answer. For the first time, this image-based system of communication is being combined with technology to create a social language that unites the world.īut do symbols "have the ability to transcend cultural and language barriers" as they suggest? In looking at the symbols on the site, I wonder whether these icons rely just as much on enculturation for understanding as any written language does. Symbols have the ability to transcend cultural and language barriers and deliver concise information effortlessly and instantaneously. Visual communication is incredibly powerful. On its " About" page, the Noun Project describes itself as:Ī platform empowering the community to build a global visual language that everyone can understand.
#The noun project similar download
How can you quickly communicate concrete concepts to an audience that includes speakers of many languages and those who can't read? The Noun Project sees an answer in symbols, and it offers a platform for people to submit icon designs that others can download and use.
