The exhibition, at Japan House, focuses mainly on how designers from Nippon Design Center created the first full set of sporting pictograms in 1964 for the Tokyo Olympic Games, which then went on to become the international standard for sporting events. In 2019, the Nippon Design Center launched a new project, Experience Japan Pictograms, designed to enhance the experience of international visitors to Japan through a more comprehensive visual communication system comprising over 600 country-specific symbols. One of the cleverer ideas in the exhibition looks at what happens when classically flat pictograms are rendered in three dimensions. They also asked some London schoolchildren to design new pictograms for London. The exhibition, Pictograms: Iconic Japanese designs is at Japan House on Kensington High Street and is open until November 2025.

Source: The Times August 05, 2025 11:04 UTC