Isotype is a technique for visualising social statistics through pictorial means. It was originally known as the Vienna Method of Pictorial Statistics, first developed in the 1920s, at Vienna’s path-breaking Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum (Social and Economic Museum) and used to explain and illustrate social and economic matters to ordinary people. Isotype’s founding figure was the sociologist and Vienna Circle philosopher Otto Neurath.

As a pioneering technique of visual communication, Isotype has profoundly influenced the design of information and the use of international symbols in everyday life. The display Isotype: international picture language at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London will highlight Isotype’s impressive range of interests, concerns and applications, offering a fresh view of its scope and importance. The display is part of the ‘Isotype revisited’ project at the University of Reading and will draw on original material from the Otto & Marie Neurath Isotype Collection.

For more information visit www.vam.ac.uk or www.isotyperevisited.org