The Noun Project, created by Edward Boatman and Sofia Polyakov, is a single lexicon of visual art symbols for various nouns of the English language. This visual vocabulary of images serves to communicate an idea, or rather a noun, to any person through symbols.
The Noun Project started off as doodles on Edward’s notepad when he studied in design school; he felt the project had a future but he couldn’t find time to pursue it. The unfortunate arrival of the recession left the poor designer out of work. Edward found a lot of time to devote to his unfinished project and created symbols for countless nouns; as they say, they say the night is darkest before dawn. Soon, he and Sophia created a website and got picked up and written about in major design publications.
The Noun Project gives birth to a universal visual language. The project strives to create a universal symbol thus reducing miscommunication between individuals. It also provides scalable images for many regularly used nouns like ‘Chair’ to a seldomly used noun like ‘Geothermal Energy’. The site covers over 3,000 nouns in neat monochromatic units.
The Noun Project has also become a collaborative venture as it gives visitors the chance to submit their own symbols, done in the same aesthetic, which captures the essence of a noun. The submitter needs to follow the strict guidelines before his work gets approved and featured in the handy set of symbols so follow the rules before you make an icon for Rajinikant.
I feel that the initiative is of great use to the autistic and the differently abled communities to communicate better. The Noun Project even includes some very abstract nouns, especially Sasquatch, to keep things light-hearted.
Click here to visit their website: http://thenounproject.com
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