Art has been used as a form of communication since ancient times, such as the Egyptian hieroglyphics writing system. This week, we watched Susan Kare speak about her work as an iconographer, and she placed an emphasis on the power of simplicity for making art universal. The Egyptians used simple drawings to communicate with each other. However, what I find interesting about the hieroglyphics writing system is that it is not “picture writing.” For example, if a sentence has an image of a bird, the sentence might not be talking about a bird.
An interesting article by Case Thompson on Communication Through the Arts.
