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By, Paul Battley
Have you ever cursed at the symbols on a washing machine, puzzled at the pictorial navigation of a website, or panicked at that inscrutable symbol on the car dashboard that's flashing red? I have. Especially the last one. (I eventually discovered that I'd been driving with the parking brake on.)

All this has happened before, and all this will happen again. (Except for me driving with the parking brake on.) Throughout history, humanity has faced the challenge of putting complex and abstract concepts onto paper or clay or rock or skin or whatever. It usually starts out in the same way, but the end results have been very varied: We've ended up with alphabets, abjads, abugidas, logograms and syllabaries. Oh, and the symbols on modern industrial devices.

I'll describe the history of some of the more interesting writing systems and explain how Chinese works, that Japanese can be really hard, and why you should be really glad you're not an Akkadian. I hope that it will be enlightening and fascinating, but I also hope that it will help to inform the way that people approach pictorial communication in the future. I also hope that it will go some way towards explaining why there are so many hamburger menus, and inspire people to do better.

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http://amara.org/v/FkBL/

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In the talk titled "What's That Supposed to Mean," Paul Battley explores the complexities of symbols and writing systems throughout history, emphasizing the challenge of conveying abstract concepts effectively. He begins by addressing common frustrations people encounter with symbols in everyday life, from washing machines to car dashboards, highlighting the universal struggle to comprehend pictorial communication. Battley provides an overview of various writing systems, including alphabets, logograms, abugidas, and syllabaries, and explains the unique features of Chinese and Japanese.

Key points discussed include:

- **Historical Development**: Battley traces the evolution of writing systems, noting how they began as pictorial representations but evolved into more abstract characters. He provides examples of ancient Chinese characters and their transformations over millennia.

- **Challenges of Learning**: He illustrates the difficulty inherent in learning characters, particularly in languages like Chinese and Japanese, requiring significant memorization and understanding of context.

- **Rebus Symbols**: The use of rebus symbols in ancient writing systems is highlighted, demonstrating how representations can shift from literal images to phonetic clues.

- **Modern Communication**: Battley discusses how the digital age has influenced symbol comprehension, introducing challenges due to the inconsistency of icons across platforms and the outdated meanings behind some symbols, such as the floppy disk icon for saving a document.

- **Design Considerations**: He emphasizes the importance of clarity in symbol design and the challenge of bridging cultural differences in understanding symbols.

The conclusion of the talk reiterates the ongoing need for clarity and adaptation in communication as writing systems evolve. Battley encourages his audience to embrace the complexities of symbols while striving for effective communication, recognizing the beauty in human creativity that these systems represent. He invites questions to explore personal experiences with symbols and writing systems further, fostering a dialogue on pictorial communication challenges and breakthroughs.

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