Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols (Paperback)

by Henry Dreyfuss (Author)
Key Phrases: doctorate hoods, relief shipments, graphic symbols, United States, Grade Crossing, Broken Clouds (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The result of years of work, this dictionary of universally used symbol designs is organized into categories by basic symbols, disciplines, color, and graphic form for easy access. This book includes translations of data into 17 languages.

From the Back Cover
"A ready reference aid and an inspiration to designers … All in all the best book now available on symbols." —Library Journal This unparalleled reference represents a major achievement in the field of graphic design. Famed industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss recognized the importance of symbols in communicating more quickly and effectively; for many years he and his staff collected and codified graphic symbols as they are used in all walks of life throughout the world. The result is this "dictionary" of universally used graphic symbols. Henry Dreyfuss designed this sourcebook to be as practical and easy to use as possible by arranging the symbol information within ingeniously devised sections: Basic Symbols represents a concise and highly selective grouping of symbols common to all disciplines (on-off, up-down, etc.). Disciplines provides symbols used in accommodations and travel, agriculture, architecture, business, communications, engineering, photography, sports, safety, traffic controls, and many other areas. Color lists the meanings of each of the colors in various worldwide applications and cultures. Graphic Form displays symbols from all disciplines grouped according to form (squares, circles, arrows, human figures, etc.) creating a unique way to identify a symbol out of context, as well as giving designers a frame of reference for developing new symbols. To make the sourcebook truly universal, the Table of Contents contains translations of each of the section titles and discipline areas into 17 languages in addition to English.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (May 1, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471288721
• ISBN-13: 978-0471288725
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #580,376 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Symbol Sourcebook, June 16, 2000

By A Customer

I just recently flipped through this book and definitely stopped me from looking for the actually book I was looking for. If you love symbols, this is it. It contains symbols from areas such as medical field to underground symbols used by hobos, which I found pretty interesting. It contains in depth symbolism of colors. Virtually all symbols that you might recognize or not are here. Check it out.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Symbols abound, May 23, 2000

By	tyrone (USA) - See all my reviews

I use Symbol Sourcebook as a bible for interpreting meaning from it's very thorough pages. It is full of insightful and seemingly rare symbols. From engineering to chemistry to any other form of language through symbol this book by Mr. Dreyfuss is astounding. It is my reference for many, many corporate identity projects.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just keep it symbol., September 14, 2003

By	Robin Benson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Four stars because a book that is involved with communication does it in such a disappointing way. The cover, text pages, bibliography and index are extremely bland. For instance, the few text pages have a line space between the paragraphs and also an indentation on the first line of each par, the bibliography is set in the same weight of type so punctuation is required, this can nearly be eliminated by using various weights of type to separate the different elements, the twenty-two page index could have been less if it was set in three columns instead of two.

However this is an important book and the symbol content rightly deserves five stars. Henry Dreyfuss started work on this project in the fifties while working for an oil-drilling equipment manufacturer, who wanted some way of communicating with workers in parts of the world where English was uncommon. Two-dimensional illustrations were developed and Dreyfuss slowly expanded the scope of the idea into this book, which presents several thousand in twenty-six categories.

The selection is very comprehensive, pages ninety and ninety-one include hobo signs with one for Cowards Will Give, To Get Rid Of You, or Free Telephone, which looks remarkably like a profile of a turkey. A fascinating four pages show Olympic symbols from the Games of 1948, 64, 68 and 72. I think 1968 are clearly the best, the designer avoided using stylised human forms and presented basic sport elements in a black rounded corner box. Throughout the book, where there is space, Dreyfuss has added sidebars on a variety of topics relating to symbol origins and usage.

To make this book as practical as possible the contents page is in eighteen languages, a good example of why Henry Dreyfuss, apart from being a great industrial designer, was also a person who never lost his humanity.