Proto-Isotype: The Codices of the School of Huejotzingo As Examples of Pictographic Numeracy

Abstract

This dissertation contributes to the study of communication design and data visualization by analyzing a set of ancient pictorial manuscripts. It is also aligned with the literature of pictorial statistics, most notably Isotype according to the Vienna Method. The research constitutes a comparative analysis of two methods for presenting quantities created four-hundred years apart: the Codices of The School of Huejotzingo, and the pictorial statistical charts first known as the Vienna Method of Pictorial Statistics and later as the International System of Typographic Education (Isotype). These two methods of presenting quantities through the use of pictures share strong structural similarities. A historical approach alongside three primary theoretical perspectives: the principles of the Vienna Method, the Picture Superiority Effect, and Gestalt Theory of Visual Cognition guide this research. This work provides an overview of how societies developed methods for counting, followed by some of the events that contributed to the development of graphical displays of data. Several of the first publications that introduced pictorial statistics as alternative methods to charts and graphs in the twentieth century are discussed. The main focus is on the popularization of pictorial statistics spearheaded by Otto Neurath, which gained international attention in the 1930s. This dissertation also introduces the Codices of The School of Huejotzingo. To date, given the literature examined for this research, these pictorial manuscripts have not been discussed as evidence of early examples of data visualization within the original fields of archeology and anthropology, nor in the literature of visual communication design or data visualization. Whereas Vienna Method charts report statistical data, the Codices of Huejotzingo report accounting activities and tax payments, both approaches share very similar characteristics in their use of pictures to represent quantities. In the literature, Vienna Method charts are categorized as pictorial statistics owing to the use of pictographs to represent statistical information. The Codices of The School of Huejotzingo have been referred to as pictorial manuscripts, a generic term used to describe manuscripts that are predominantly populated with pictures as opposed to text. In relation to other ancient pictorial manuscripts that use pictures to narrate stories, describe experiences, or map regions, the Codices of The School of Huejotzingo are unique as the scribes used pictures to record and report accounting activities. In order to place the Codices of The School of Huejotzingo within the data visualization timeline and position them alongside the Vienna Method as examples of pictographic numeracy, this research also addresses the structural elements shared between the Codices of Huejotzingo and the Vienna Method of Pictorial Statistics. The principles of the Vienna Method, later known as Isotype articulated by Otto Neurath are used to guide this particular analysis of structural elements. To group these two methods, which share many structural similarities in their communication of quantities with pictures, the category “pictographic numeracy” is introduced. This category describes graphical displays of data that use non-numerical symbols, such as pictograms or glyphs to represent quantities or statistical data. The introduction of pictographic numeracy as a term also presents an opportunity for the inclusion of similar artifacts that may not have historically been considered examples of data visualization. The final theoretical frameworks applied in this analysis, the Picture Superiority Effect (PSE) and Gestalt theory are used to theorize how the Codices of The School of Huejotzingo and the charts created in the Vienna Method and its successor, Isotype, share many structural similarities despite the significant differences in time and space and the lack of evidence of cross-pollination that may have occurred over time.