Tom Atkinson on pictograms and prose

摘要

In contrast to the exclusive and prescriptive imagery of contemporary marketing, Otl Aicher's Isny: How a German Town Defied the Postcard Mentality showcases an exemplar of how a town's graphic identity can be informed by the viewer's own imagination. We are constantly bombarded with a visual aesthetic that determines the boundaries of what we should value and desire. Advertising, product placement, lifestyle vloggers, Instagram, and development hoardings are all engineered to depict a particular lifestyle of an exclusive club that the viewer is most probably not a part of. In contrast, Otl Aicher's Isny is a tale of how an identity could be crafted for the many, not the few, implying a vision of wonder and brilliance supplied by the viewer rather than being dictated by the designer. Starting from what should be the most humdrum of town planning considerations - its tourist identity - this is a celebration of the branding of place, which idly plots a journey into a way of thinking that rejects the picturesque in the creation of a bold representation of place. It proposes an alternative to the untruths of hyperreal renderings, forcing the viewer to understand it through their own experience, calling upon their thoughts and memories instead of imposing a predetermined 'optimum' vision.