Each Picto image represents a word or concept, e.g. boy, eat or happy. The symbol is always white on a black square. The word/concept is also presented as text above the symbol.
The Pictogram system includes several classes of words. The emphasis is on nouns and verbs, but the system also accommodates pronouns, adjectives, numerals, conjunctions, prepositions, interjections and adverbs.
Concepts such as love cannot unambiguously be represented on the basis of anything concrete in our sensory world. There are thus a number of so-called ideograms based on conceptual similarities or conventions in our culture. Of the Pictogram system's approx. 1,400 symbols, about 2% are ideographic.
Examples of ideographic symbols.
Consistent design helps comprehension. Pictogram users must intuitively experience a formal structure in the system. The Picto images for various parts of the body are examples of this.
Marking of parts of the body.