In short, these cues fall into three categories: Symbolism is about representation, such as the white dove signalling peace. Iconography defines the ‘what’ and ‘how’: custom-designed symbols tailored to complement other brand assets to form a visual language. Used consistently across marketing touchpoints, they do much of the heavy lifting in brand identity and recall. Iconology, in a technical sense, drills down to the ‘why’—how many of you knew that famous swoosh represents the wing, power and speed of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike?
Transcending language barriers, these icons, mascots, and symbols act as indelible signposts—sticking in your mind and guiding your recognition. They serve as quick, trusted visual shortcuts that cut through clutter, delivering instant understanding from just a glance.
In today’s fast-paced, content-driven world, capturing attention has never been more challenging. The rapid rise of infographics is no surprise; these vibrant storytellers have revolutionised how we share information and connect with audiences.
Creating tailored maps has been central to our 33-year journey. Our iconography toolkit includes many types and styles!
Every year, Northern Territory Airports attends a global conference to attract new airlines and routes to the Territory. Our brief was to create a short piece of material to illustrate the airport’s capabilities, benefits, and infrastructure with emphasis on making it truly stand out from other competing airports.
When Darwin Middle School introduced the ‘STEAM’ curriculum, they invited us to develop a suite of visual tools to communicate what it meant to both internal and external audiences. The STEAM framework builds on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), bringing Arts into the mix.
‘A picture is worth a thousand words’, or ‘pictures speak louder than words’, are common idioms used to explain that a single glance can reveal a story, message or concept in an instant.