The frame story of The One Thousand and One Nights itself is one of a king, King Shahrayar, who has been betrayed by his wife, and who is off commiserating with his brother, king Shahzaman, who had suffered a similar fate himself. The King`s Vizier`s daughter, Shahrazad, decides to stop the king from his tyrannical killing of women. She knew poetry by heart. “The Story of the Merchant and the Demon” is about a merchant who is doomed to death by a demon who claims the merchant had killed his son (566-7). Three strange old men tells stories of their hardships to the demon to win back the merchant`s life. The first man`s story warns against jealousy and teaches that the bad things you do to another will come back to harm you. The second man`s story warns against greed and teaches to do good to those who ask for your help. “The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon” teaches to follow one`s word, believe in God, and do not do bad unto others unless you want bad done unto you.
work, and possible ways that could help develop one. This includes research into historical design movements, existing signs and symbols, and colour association. With examples, chapter two explores the arguments around interpretation and applied meaning with references to Susan Sontag and Roland Barthes. This is in reference to culture and how differences between societies change meanings and associations. The final part of the research grew into an expanded view, incorporating scientific theories in relation to the way humans read and share information, with examples of cave paintings, evolution and image in nature.
Chapter 1: Transforming Information for Everyone. Representation, Interpretation and Association.
The use of pictograms began with the development of the Isotype institute and the Gesellschaft und Wirtschaftsmuseum (Social and Economics Museum) in 1920s Vienna. The movement developed cultural, traditional, historical and environmental information into pictographic representations. (Neurath.O, 2010). The pictograms were intended to be viewed literally, a silhouette of a man means a man (fig.1).
fig 1. Neurath.O, “From Vienna Method to ISOTYPE.” 224.
At the time, Vienna was a communist city state developing a modernistic approach to society and design. Otto Neurath, the founder of Isotype, wanted to communicate information quickly and accurately for the general public in replacement of text heavy charts and confusing diagrams in museums (Neurath, Kinross, 2009). Marie Reidemeister, later Marie Neurath, was the ‘transformer’ in the institute, and figured out the most effective ways of transforming information into an accessible format for the masses. […] ‘perhaps, this idea, of the decompartmentalisation of human experience, was the single most important ideals.’ (Greenhalgh. P, 1990. pg92) Is the idea of set ideals where everyone operates the same way counterproductive to the idea of a universal pictographic language? For the socia
