London Photo Gallery - Art Exhibitions & Special Events

Pictograms (August 2025)

Japanese design can be simple and compact, with their pictograms meant to communicate effectively quickly. This exhibition is curated by the Nippon Design Center, which created pictograms for the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. In 2019, they also launched a project to devise symbols to visually showcase Japan's history and culture.

The exhibition occupies the basement hall at Japan House in High Street Kensington.

The 1964 Olympics marked the debut of sports pictograms with 20 silhouette designs. Subsequently, each Olympics host city created their own pictograms.

The grid system helps designers place the design to make sure it is aligned and consistent. The Nippon Design Center is using a 40x40 grid with a margin of 2 cells around the edges.

Does the pictogram look like the food item sample?

Young people aged 7-16 were invited to create pictograms representing London, such as iconic attractions, people, and foods.