The Development of Writing

History of writing can start with the oldest means of visual communication that have been
preserved: the Paleolithic pictorial representations that, over time, evolved into "proto-writing".
The function of these "ornaments" was not communication but expression .
Pictograms
The oldest cave drawings representing important information were made 20,000 years
ago and clay tokens with marks suggesting some writing attempts are about 10,000 years old, yet
they are considered to be only the precursors of writing and not fully developed writing systems.
The first systematic writing systems were developed about 5,000 years ago. Cave drawings are
treated as a tradition of pictorial art as the history of writing systems starts with pictograms.
A pictogram is a drawing which is used in a consistent way in order to represent an

object. Thus, a form such as might be used to represent sun. It is remarkable that thanks to
the conventional relationship between the symbol and its referent users of different languages
should understand the meaning of pictograms in a similar way, as with the contemporary
pictograms in common use:

With time the sign representing sun might develop into a more symbolic and abstract

form, like for example, and start to be used with several additional meanings such as heat
and daytime. Then, such a type of symbol is no longer a pictogram, but it is a part of a system
based on idea-writing called ideogram. The difference between pictograms and ideograms is
that the former represent their referent in a conventional way and the latter are more abstract and
arbitrary, as well as less picture-like.
A brief history of pictograms and ideograms
Written by Jerome Haldemann on November 11, 2014
A pictogram, also called pictograph, picto or simply icon, is the most simple and efficient
way to convey a message or an idea and has been used throughout civilization from the
prehistoric age, to ancient Egypt, until today. Pictograms have constantly evolved over the
centuries. Often theyve been associated with magic powers, used to convey religious ideas or
even been used as a secret code.

Nowadays icons serve a more utilitarian purpose. Because of the industrial revolution and
globalisation, people everywhere are establishing themselves in foreign countries using the same
technologies to work and communicate. This is what I call a universal lifestyle. But, for this to
work we need to communicate in a universal language that everyone can understand whatever
their language or culture.

A pictogram is a symbol that conveys meaning through its resemblance to a physical

object. Examples of pictograms include wayfinding signage, such as in airports and other
environments where many people may not be familiar with the language of the place they are in.

The departure pictogram displayed in every airport is understood by everyone.

In some cases, pictograms can be coupled with ideograms. Ideograms are graphical
symbols that represent an idea or concept. Good examples of ideogram are the red circle that
means not allowed, or the orange or yellow triangle that means attention or danger.

A good example of a pictogram and ideogram combination

We can see pictograms and ideograms everywhere. They are on road signage, buildings,
streets, train stations, electronic devices, computers, etc. They reproduce in a very simple manner
what our eyes see and can easily be understood by anybody.

Today there are thousands of pictograms and ideograms that have been universally
accepted and we directly recognise them at a first glance. Popular examples are the email icon,
the telephone icon, the play button, the download button, etc. Some of them are pictograms,
others are ideograms and some are a mix of both.
 Sometimes a pictogram is also playing the role of an ideogram. For example, the icon that
represents the meaning of the idea is represented by a light bulb. Even if the light bulb is in fact
the representation of an object (a pictogram), it conveys the message of the idea, a concept (an
ideogram).

Here the idea icon is represented by a pictogram which is used as an ideogram. This
example is amplified by another ideogram, the light beams.
Creating an icon is not an easy task for a designer

Because an icon must be universal, it can be very tricky for a designer to create a
workable icon. There are so many things to take into consideration. For example, a
representation of something could be interpreted differently depending on someones culture,
beliefs or religion. Colours might also be best avoided. In Europe red is a common symbol for
danger, but in China red symbolises good fortune and is believed to ward away evil.

Some words are considered impossible to transcribe into a pictogram without the help of
text. Try to represent an account manager as an icon for example. It might not seem too hard at
first sight but when you think about it, youll soon realise that its not an easy task at all.

Its also very risky to try to do something differently when creating a new icon. If a
triangle in a circle means play, dont try to reinvent the wheel. Itll simply confuse people. Icons
are not always the place to be creative.

Up for the challenge? If youre interested about how to design a great icon, you should
take a look at MuddasarBagwans blog post: What makes a great icon?
Are some of the existing icons still up to date today?

When I look at some of the most popular icons of today a question always pops into my
mind: How long are we going to keep these without updating them? This question particularly
applies for the technology which is constantly evolving year after year. The electronic devices
become smaller, thinner, able to multitask and equipped with touch screens. Their shapes are
also changing, as well as the way we are using them.

Generation Z is born with tablets and smartphones. So are they really identifying
themselves to an old-fashioned phone receiver we are using to represent calls? Are they aware
that the voicemail icon used by Apple is actually a tape recorder? Do they actually know what a
tape recorder is? Those are the kind of questions Im always asking myself when looking at my
smartphone or computer. It seems that those types of icons are becoming ideograms instead of
pictograms for them. Symbols that finally are universally been accepted as the official
representation of an idea or a concept.

Is this icon still correctly understood today?

Conclusion

There have never been as many icons as today. They have evolved for centuries. Since
the industrial revolution and the dawn of globalisation, iconshave started to appear everywhere
and their popularity has evolved as technology evolves. Icons are increasingly becoming a
universal language in which each symbol has a particular meaning. To update or change an
already well-known icon is too risky, regardless of whether generation z can identify the object
represented or not. As long as people can instantly understand its meaning, theres no reason to
introduce confusion. Its like changing a language a universal way to communicate. And this is
what icons are really all about: visual communication
Logographic writing. Logograms
When a further development of the writing system occurred one symbol started to
represent one word. A writing system based on arbitrary relationships between the written form
and the object it represents is known as word-writing or logogram. The oldest logographic
writing was used by the Sumerians about 5,000 years ago, yet because of the shapes they used as
symbols their writing system is known as cuneiform. The arbitrary forms of logograms have no
resemblance to the entities they represent which the example of cuneiform symbol for sun

clearly shows: .
 Syllabic writing systems

The last but one step of writing system development towards the most popularly used
system nowadays is the syllabic writing. In syllabic writing (also known as syllabary) each
symbol represents one syllable. The first fully developed syllabic writing systems were used by
Phoenicians in between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago. The final stage of the evolution of writing
systems so far is the inventing writing by use of an alphabet.
In a syllabic writing system, the overwhelming number of signs are used solely for their
phonetic values. These phonetic signs are Syllabograms, meaning that they represent syllables
rather than individual sound. A few non-phonetic are used for numbers, punctuation, and
commonly used words.
As logographic writing systems use a single symbol for an entire word, a syllabary is a
set of written symbols that represent (or approximate) syllables, which make up words. A
symbol in a syllabary typically represents a consonant sound followed by a vowel sound, or just
a vowel alone. In a true syllabary there is no systematic graphic similarity between phonetically
related characters (though some do have graphic similarity for the vowels). That is, the
characters for "ke", "ka", and "ko" have no similarity to indicate their common "k"-ness.
Compare abugida, where each grapheme typically represents a syllable but where characters
representing related sounds are similar graphically (typically, a common consonantal base is
annotated in a more or less consistent manner to represent the vowel in the syllable).
Syllabaries are best suited to languages with relatively simple syllable structure, such as
Japanese. The English language, on the other hand, allows complex syllable structures, with a
relative large inventory of vowels and complex consonant clusters, making it cumbersome to
write English words with a syllabary. To write English using a syllabary, every possible syllable
in English would have to have a separate symbol, and whereas the number of possible syllables
in Japanese is no more than one hundred or so, in English there are many thousands.
Other languages that use syllabic writing include Mycenaean Greek (Linear B)
and Native American languages such as Cherokee. Several languages of the Ancient Near
East used forms of cuneiform, which is a syllabary with some non-syllabic elements.
 Alphabetic writing systems
An alphabet is a small set of letters basic written symbols each of which roughly
represents or represented historically a phoneme of a spoken language. The word alphabet is
derived from alpha and beta, the first two symbols of the Greek alphabet.
In a perfectly phonological alphabet, the phonemes and letters would correspond
perfectly in two directions: a writer could predict the spelling of a word given its pronunciation,
and a speaker could predict the pronunciation of a word given its spelling. Each language has
general rules that govern the association between letters and phonemes, but, depending on the
language, these rules may or may not be consistently followed.
Perfectly phonological alphabets are very easy to use and learn, and languages that have
them (for example, Finnish) have much lower barriers to literacy than languages such as English,
which has a very complex and irregular spelling system. As languages often evolve
independently of their writing systems, and writing systems have been borrowed for languages
they were not designed for, the degree to which letters of an alphabet correspond to phonemes of
a language varies greatly from one language to another and even within a single language. In
modern times, when linguists invent a writing system for a language that didn't previously have
one, the goal is usually to make perfectly phonological alphabet. An example of such writing
systems is the "IPA" (International Phonetic Alphabet).
Alphabetic writing . An alphabet is essentially a set of written symbols which each
represents a single type of sound. The alphabets of Semitic languages such as Arabic and
Hebrew consist of consonant symbols. This early form of alphabetic script, originating in the
writing system of the Phoenicians, is the general source of most other alphabets to be found in
the world. 0 Significantly, the Greek took the alphabetizing process a stage further by also using
separate symbols to represent the vowel sounds as distinct entities. This change produced a
distinct symbol for the vowel a (alpha) to go with existing symbols for consonant Such as b
(beta). The Greek should be given credit for taking the inherently syllabic system from the
Phoenicians and creating a writing system in which the single-symbol to single-sound
correspondence was fully realized. This revised alphabet passed from Greek to the rest of
Western Europe and underwent several modifications to fit the requirements of the spoken
languages encountered. It also passed to Eastern Europe where Slavic languages were spoken.
The modified version, called the Cyrillic alphabet, is the basis of the writing system used in
Russian today. (cf. p.14 origins of letters in modern European alaphabets)
Written English. If indeed the origins of the alphabetic writing system were based on a
correspondence between single symbol and single sound type, then one might reasonably ask
why there is such a frequent mismatch between the forms of written English and the sounds of
spoken English.
The reason is sought in a number of historical influences on the form of written English.
In the 15thC. when printing was produced to England, the spelling of English was fixed with a
number of written conventions derived from Latin and French. In the 16thC. a large number of
older written English words were recreated by spelling reformers to bring their written forms
more into line with what were erroneously supposed to be their Latin origins. Thus, the sources
of the mismatch begin to become clear.
All these signs are increasingly becoming a universal language in which
each symbol has a particular meaning. To update or change an already well-known
icon is too risky,. As long as people can instantly understand its meaning,
theres no reason to introduce confusion. Its like changing a language a
universal way to communicate. And this is what pictograms, ideograms,
logograms, emojis are really all about: visual communication.

Internet language

The Internet can be a confusing place, even for someone who is using it every day. Because Internet
language evolves every day. In fact, Internet slang words can transform language itself, so you need to
know them to get by in real life.
When texting and posting on social media through mobile devices, we want to communicate as
quickly and accurately as possible, and we are finding we can accomplish this by incorporating
images into our language

Emoji are popular digital pictograms that can appear in text messages, emails, and on social
media platforms. These symbols do considerable work to underscore tone, introduce humor, and
give individuals a quick and efficient way to bring some color and personality into otherwise
monochrome networked spaces of text.

An emoji is an image small enough to insert into text that expresses an emotion or
idea. Emoji are most often used in emails and text messages, though may be found in any
type of electronic communication. The word emoji is a combination of the Japanese
word e which means picture, and moji which means character. Emojis were first used in cell
phone communication in Japan in 1999. Emoji and emojis are both considered correct
plural forms of the word emoji.

An emoticon is a representation of a human facial expression using only keyboard

characters such as letters, numbers and punctuation marks. Emoticons became popular in
the 1990s with the advent of emails and texting. The word emoticon is a portmanteau, made
by combining the words emotion andicon. Remember, an emoticon is built from keyboard
characters that when put together in a certain way represent a facial expression, an emoji is
an actual image.