how education can improve your life. ‘I was astonished by the kind of questions that they put to me: what appeared fundamental to them was also what is fundamental to me.’ (Neurath. M, 2009. pg 75-76). Marie found that by Nigerian and European people seeking for the same things in life, a certain continuity was found amongst people that could help in the development of more universal pictograms.

fig.2 Neurath.M, Isotype Booklet Nigeria, 1955

This was the only time the Isotype principles were tested outside of Europe. It presented evidence that a pictographic approach to communication improved understanding, although the pictographic depictions needed to be adapted to the culture and society of Nigeria. In order for a language to be universal it needs to be adapted through interpretation and understanding of the image by the reader, rather than dictated by the author. (QUOTE) If the style of an image is adapted to a new reader then the new version wouldn’t hold the same associations and representations of something such as a home, to the original reader.

Isotype showed that image combined with text broadens understanding within a society with information sharing and understanding. One of the key principles within the movement was designed by Neurath and his lead graphic designer, Gerd Arntz, who is responsible for the majority of Isotype’s famous work. The principle explained that the best way to visualise comparison data, such as the amount of marriages on two respective years (fig.3), was to have a long row of repeated pictograms rather than an enlarged one to show that there were many marriages that year. These principles still work today within information design, and helped develop a symbolic language of communication. Would