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Sep 10, 2007

"The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good." --Bertrand Russell

How Do We Understand Each Other?

Navigating the world’s linguistic babble has been one of the great feats of modern graphic design. Since early in the 20th century, when it became clear that visual signs could be used as detours around countless linguistic roadblocks, progressive designers have developed accessible graphic icons—mini-logos—to identify everything from restrooms to minefields. A little known fact about the peace symbol: It was designed in 1958 by an English designer named Gerald Holtom, and was inspired by an idea of the mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell. This article from Good magazine traces the global history of such symbols.