As we begin to study how humans developed written alphabets, we’ll be analyzing the ways that scholars believe these abstract visual symbols developed from pictographs, which are figurative representations of physical objects or living beings. Some examples of this can be seen in Megg’s History of Graphic Design, in the diagram on page 20 of the printed text, or page 218 of the ProQuest e-book hosted through the CUNY library system.
- First, study the ways that pictograms were transformed, across time and through cultures, into abstract symbols. What do you notice about this process? Do any of the changes surprise you? What questions do you have?
- Then, think about a physical object or living being that you can draw your own simple pictogram of. If this figurative representation was to be transformed into an abstract symbol across time and through cultures in the same way that the Cretan pictographs became transformed into letters in the Latin alphabet, what might that process look like? Trace out a few different iterations and think about the sound that this new letter might make in the spoken language.
