Pictograms: Iconic Japanese Designs (29/JUL/25 – 9/NOV/25) - London UK

I’m a ‘word person’ first and foremost but I also take a keen interest in graphic design. Which is why I took myself to the free exhibition Pictograms: Iconic Japanese Designs in London. The exhibition room is small but dense with information. I’m sharing a few photos of the many pictograms that were on display.

The 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo were the first Games to use a coordinated system of sports pictograms for the various disciplines. The 20 icons shown were designed by Yamashita Yoshirō from the newly established Nippon Design Centre.

Behold the humble beginnings of emoji! These are a few of the 176 emojis launched in 1999 by NTT DOCOMO in Japan.

I took this photo of noodles but I forgot to take a photo of the legend to see who designed them and where they are used. I love it when food and pictograms are taken this seriously!

One of the winning designs in a competition for 7–16 year olds to design an original pictogram representing London.

Lest anyone get the wrong ideas, batterless fish does not constitute an acceptable variant of fish and chips! :-)