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The variations are endless:<br><br>
Gunnar Swanson <br>
03.20.05<br><br>
<i>Thankfully, isotypes do not depict racial or ethnic characteristics,
so we don't have to get into thorny questions of representation</i>
<br><br>
Perhaps not in "our versions of Neurath's isotypes" but
Neurath's versions of Neurath's isotypes included a range of racial and
social stereotypes, pointing out a secondary irony of isotyping: A little
man can be the nongendered, universal "he" until nurses are
depicted as women or Negroes are shown; then, as usual, we lose control
of our synecdoches as they expand and contract in a manner that is beyond
our wills as designers and communicators. <br><br>
The primary irony is that as our work becomes more refined and more
universal it becomes more like Esperanto-equally unintelligible to
everyone of all cultures. <br><br>
<a href="http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=3157" eudora="autourl">
http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=3157<br>
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