Meet Marie Neurath, the Woman Who Transformed Isotype Into an International Endeavor
She was instrumental in the development of the universal icons, and even coined the name
By Theo Inglis
“Words divide, pictures unite,” or so went the motto of Isotype’s founder, the philosopher and sociologist, Otto Neurath. From its origins in 1920s Vienna, Isotype pioneered the use of simple, pictorial graphics to communicate complex information to a broad audience. The icons were meant to cross national and social divides in a time before widespread global communication. To do that, Isotype went back to basics and stripped away all things unnecessary, illogical, or alienating — and in doing so, helped to establish some of the core principles of graphic design.
Marie Neurath was responsible for a range of projects that took Isotype’s principles off the drawing board and put them successfully into practice.
Today, Isotype’s legacy can be seen everywhere from newspapers and textbooks to signage, transit maps, interfaces, and emojis. The pictograms designed for Isotype by Gerd Arntz in particular helped establish the field of information design, and their influence is…
