Pictogram Pop Culture
July 19, 2012 4:28 PM   Subscribe

Swedish graphic designer Viktor Hertz uses pictograms to depict movies, rock music, and aphorisms.
posted by divabat (8 comments total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
Love his poster for Taxi Driver. Also, insane props for reminding people about µ-ziq.
posted by Rustmouth Snakedrill at 4:43 PM on July 19, 2012


Reminds me of this Rolling Stones album from 1991.
posted by punkfloyd at 4:47 PM on July 19, 2012


I love these - I love what they do to language.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 5:30 PM on July 19, 2012


It took me a while to get the Inglorious Basterds one. These are fun!
posted by hanoixan at 5:58 PM on July 19, 2012


Wonderful! I am fascinated by icons the same way I am with Esperanto. They make me wonder where the line is: How generic/universal/basic can a word/symbol be and yet still convey meaning to the listener or reader?
posted by GrammarMoses at 6:10 PM on July 19, 2012


Re: the first link (the noun project). The others are minimal art posters, not pictograms themselves, and depend too much on text. For comparison -- kanji are pictograms.

This somehow takes me back to the pictograms of the Arecibo message and the Voyager gold plates. The latter at least referenced mankind's greatest accomplishment (Leonardo's man) so it can live on as our civilization dies, but it's not clear at all that either the Arecibo or the drawings on the Voyager record are anything universal at all.

Of course, Hertz doesn't intend to convey mankind's peaceful intentions to the vulcans and klingons, but the notion of strawberries to humans. But it's still very unlikely that even the noun pictograms will be culture-neutral. A war-happy culture (klingons...) could see the strawberry as a pierced heart. That chair is an office chair, and one from a relatively wealthy culture that can afford reclining wheeled chairs. The computer is an Apple all-in-the-monitor model. The cab is not like the cabs in my city. I could go on..
posted by syntaxfree at 6:17 PM on July 19, 2012


I don't think I'll ever tire of good movie poster remixes....
posted by schmod at 8:42 PM on July 19, 2012


That makes The Road look 100% more fun than it actually was.
posted by Sayuri. at 1:49 PM on July 20, 2012


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