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At Visual Insight we are using symbols and shapes not as illustrations but as containers of information, similar to the Cartouche of ancient Egypt, conveying a gestalt beyond mere words.

Example of a web-based clickable mural: http://www.visualinsight.net/prototest/vis-storyS.html
For the theory behind the practice, please enjoy this:

Introduction to The Open Secret
by Eileen Clegg and Bonnie DeVarco

“…When Nature begins to reveal her open secret to a person, he feels an irresistible longing for her most worthy interpreter, art.” -- Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832, German poet)

Certain shapes and symbols affect people deeply, and, as we learn more about the universe – from nanoscale organisms to galaxies – it’s clear why: Certain provocative shapes are everywhere we look, and part of our very being. We intuitively respond to them.

We are at a historical juncture where new forms of visual communication are emerging under the radar screen. Most people are overwhelmed with information, rapid change, and unpredictability. Success goes to the sense-makers, those who can quickly frame and integrate ideas and lessen the confusion. Because symbols are timeless and solid, they are being used by savvy leaders in business, politics, and marketing to capture attention, communicate abstractions, and touch emotions.

Symbols are so ubiquitous that they often become invisible. Yet internationally we are experiencing the rumblings of a cultural shift toward more awareness of the importance of images. Media, games, and educational materials are increasingly visual. Street gangs express themselves with graffiti. Visual novels are taking up more space in the bookstores. Graphics are required in business reports and presentations.

One of the most popular books of our time deals with an ancient “code” revealing hidden meanings in religion and in Renaissance art. It is true that certain symbols cross cultures and date back to the earliest human cultures. Some have been co-opted by political or religious movements so that others find them distasteful, frightening and in some cases, illegal. Others are being used subtly to clarify or influence thinking and behavior.

Beyond pop interpretation, what is the relevance to modern life? Perhaps the fascination with symbols reflects a longing for meaning. Scholars revel in the beautiful symmetry of how symbols show up in Nature and culture. History tells that the recurrence of certain shapes and symbols are more than fascinating coincidence. Understanding the secret of symbols is a source of power, a “map” to the human experience on Earth. This knowledge should not be reserved for the few, but for nonscholars it is hard to find, and even harder to unravel. That is the reason for this book: To welcome, everyone, to the world of symbols.

Across cultures and throughout time, certain symbols have had the power to inspire, intimidate and inform. A spiral, a pentagram, a labyrinth invokes longing, fear, curiosity. But why? At different points in history, geniuses, artists and even children have discovered some of the secrets of timeless symbols. But only in modern times, with the explosion of new tools and technologies, has science enabled us to experience the profound truth.

The symbols and icons we resonate with are the very shapes that comprise the structures inside our bodies and as far away as distant galaxies. From Grandmother’s quilts to Islamic tilings, these shapes represent a universal language. The ancient patterns that we have drawn in the sand, carved into stone, painted on our skin, woven into textiles and written on countless media from papyrus to paperless cyberspace tell us a story about who we are.

Today, as our world becomes smaller and more connected, some believe that the new global language will be one of symbols, not words. Yet in the new scramble to translate words into images, the complexity of symbols is getting lost. Powerful images are not simply representations of physical objects or specific ideas; they are containers of deep truths that felt on an emotional level more than understood intellectually. That’s why think tanks use drawings to capture emergent knowledge. Often words just don’t work.

Certain timeless symbols are ubiquitous for a reason: We live inside of them in our architectures; they are inside of us in the whorls on our fingertips and the structure of our brains and cytoskeleton; they reflect the shape of our galaxies and our neurons – not just in general, but down to specific mathematical ratios. The shapes that we doodle in distracted moments emanate from a shared history that lives beneath our consciousness.

We see but are not trained to think about the symbols that surround us. We are deeply affected by symbols, signs and images, but remain unaware of how important they are in our daily lives. We are “lost in the familiar.” People are in desperate need of landmarks to this ancient but continually emergent landscape of the visual.

History tells us that some of the greatest geniuses of all time – from Plato to Debussy, from DaVinci to Lewis Carroll, from Sappho to Buckminster Fuller – studied the relationship between shapes, numbers, and the physical world, and indeed used that as a basis for their brilliant creations.

Shapes an symbols are a concentrated method of communication, especially when combined with strategically selected words and phrases. In visual language, symbols literally “frame” words, reinforcing both. If we were encouraged to remember our rich visual heritage, we would become empowered to use symbols more consciously, participate in the evolution of a new language, and manifest our own creativity.

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