San Antonio College Library

From simple shapes and colors to gods, mythical beasts, sacred rituals, and global branding, over 2,000 signs and symbols are explained through text, illustrations, and photography. Grouped thematically and comprehensively cross-referenced. Includes the physical world, animals, plants, humans, colors, shapes, patterns, numbers, picture writing, alphabets, international signs, professional signs, brands and logos, heraldic emblems, national flags,...

"For millennia humans have used visible marks to communicate information. Modern examples of conventional graphical symbols include written language, and non-linguistic symbol systems such as mathematical symbology or traffic signs. The latter kinds of symbols convey information without reference to language. This book presents the first systematic study of graphical symbol systems, including a history of graphical symbols from the Paleolithic onwards,...

"A deep and penetrating exploration of the key concepts of information and communications sciences by one of its founders, this book examines signs, symbols, information, and communication from historical and foundational perspectives."--Jacket.

Presents in practical, easy-to-follow steps, the conceptual thinking and artistic follow through needed to create effective pictorial symbols.

"Across all regions, cultures, and societies, humans have attributed to the circle ideals of unity, wholeness, infinity, enlightenment, and perfection. We have applied this natural shape to countless manmade systems through the ages, from tools, icons, and writing systems to maps, urban plans, and digital technologies. In The Book of Circles, his companion volume to the popular Book of Trees, Manuel Lima takes us on a lively tour through millenia...

Revealing the secret history of punctuation, this tour of two thousand years of the written word, from ancient Greece to the Internet, explores the parallel histories of language and typography throughout the world and across time.

Entries pertain to persons, titles and pictures, and objects as attributes and symbols. Recurrent mythological, historical and religious themes are explored and allegorical, poetic, and saintly characters are also covered. Cross-references and appropriate line drawings enhance the book's value.

From masks to the symbolic script of the Ashanti, symbols play an important role in all aspects of African life. These sacred items come in a breathtaking array of styles, and here, divided into six areas of cultural similarity, are some of the most beautiful, along with explanations of their meanings. Demons, for most Africans, are responsible for justice and retribution: the superb demon mask shown depicts Kponingo, who belongs to the mythical world...