Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols
This exhibition was on display from May 13, 2023 to August 11, 2024.
Some objects in this exhibition may not be viewable on the website due to copyright or other usage restrictions, or because there is no digitized image for the object.
See all the exhibitions.
View and print exhibition labels.
Symbols are important communication tools in our daily lives, constantly evolving based on new needs and users. Symbols have the power to instruct, protect, entertain, connect, and even divide us. They formed some of the first written human expressions and today animate our digital chats.
From 1969 to 1972, the visionary designer Henry Dreyfuss (American, 1904–1972) oversaw the making of the Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols, a manual that compiled and categorized thousands of symbols in use internationally. The publication was celebrated as an "event with worldwide ramifications, very much in keeping with the man who created it—a man who not only sees change coming, but helps to usher it in."
Dreyfuss understood how symbols functioned for people. He and his industrial design team placed symbols on products and services where we now take them for granted—on airplanes, cameras, telephones, tractors, and more.
Anticipating the everyday use of symbols in our current digital era, the Symbol Sourcebook helped to elevate the importance of symbols and increase their number in our world. Though it was published over 50 years ago, the Symbol Sourcebook is still used by designers today. The origin story of the Symbol Sourcebook—told for the first time here through primary materials from Cooper Hewitt’s Henry Dreyfuss Archive—has inspired us to look at symbols now and explore their evolution and future.
- Reproduction, Pamela Holaday’s Hands on Safety Symbol Pasteup
- photograph.
- Henry Dreyfuss Archive.
- s-e-3918
- Poster, Transmission / Oil / Temperature
- collage and photomechanical print on illustration board.
- Gift of Henry Dreyfuss.
- 1972-88-1-37
- Reproduction, Fictitious Road Sign, Industrial Design, June 1969
- print on paper.
- Henry Dreyfuss Archive.
- s-e-3805
- Book, Symbol Sourcebook: An Authorative Guide to International Graphic...
- bound volume with color illustrations.
- Gift of Henry Dreyfuss.
- 1972-88-1-29
- Book, Symbol Sourcebook: An Authorative Guide to International Graphic Symbols
- bound volume with color illustrations.
- Gift of Henry Dreyfuss.
- 1972-88-1-34
- Book Jacket, Symbol Sourcebook: An Authorative Guide to International Graphic...
- print on glossy paper.
- Gift of Henry Dreyfuss.
- 1972-88-1-35
- There are 3 images of this object.
- Poster, Handling of Goods Symbols
- photomechanical print on illustration board.
- Gift of Henry Dreyfuss.
- 1972-88-1-38
- Reproduction , Poison Symbol, Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to...
- print on paper.
- Henry Dreyfuss Archive.
- s-e-3842
- Reel Speed Prototype Vehicle Control Knob
- abs plastic.
- Gift of Henry Dreyfuss.
- 1972-88-131-1
- This object was made by John Deere.
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- Gearshift Prototype Vehicle Control Knob
- abs plastic.
- Gift of Henry Dreyfuss.
- 1972-88-131-2
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- Separator/Ratchet Prototype Vehicle Control Knob
- abs plastic.
- Gift of Henry Dreyfuss.
- 1972-88-131-4
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- Platform Lift Prototype Vehicle Control Knob
- abs plastic.
- Gift of Henry Dreyfuss.
- 1972-88-131-8
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- Reproduction, User Testing Operator Controls in Prototype John Deere...
- 35mm slide.
- Henry Dreyfuss Archive.
- s-e-3769
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Reproduction, Dashboard with Operator Controls in John Deere Agricultural...
- 35mm slide.
- Henry Dreyfuss Archive.
- s-e-3770
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Reproduction, Poster, All Power to the People (Chicago, Illinois)
- silkscreen.
- Center for the Study of Political Graphics, 1992-072; Courtesy of the Center....
- s-e-3915
- Reproduction, Black Lives Matter Protest,, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- photograph.
- Courtesy of Lorie Shaull, licensed under CC by 2.0.
- s-e-3913
- Pinback Button, War Against Repression, Guerra Contra Repression, April 5,...
- ink on paper, metal, plastic.
- Exhibition purchase.
- s-e-3795
- Pinback Button, Unite Aainst War, Racism & Repression, YWLL
- ink on paper, metal, plastic.
- Exhibition purchase.
- s-e-3798
- Reproduction, Pamela Holaday Redrawing Symbols for the Symbol Sourcebook
- photograph.
- Henry Dreyfuss Archive.
- s-e-3909
- Reproduction, Redrawing Symbols and Creating Symbol Sourcebook Mockups
- photograph.
- Henry Dreyfuss Archive.
- s-e-3911
- Reproduction, Smokey the Bear, Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to...
- print on paper.
- Henry Dreyfuss Archive.
- s-e-3839
- Reproduction, Thin Ice Symbol, Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to...
- print on paper.
- Henry Dreyfuss Archive.
- s-e-3836
- Reproduction, Deer Area Symbol, Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to...
- print on paper.
- Henry Dreyfuss Archive.
- s-e-3853
- Reproduction, Laying Out the Symbol Sourcebook
- photograph.
- Henry Dreyfuss Archive.
- s-e-3764
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Reproduction, Henry Dreyfuss, Doris Marks Dreyfuss, and Pamela Holaday with...
- photograph.
- Henry Dreyfuss Archive.
- s-e-3765