Provender Mill, Bruton, BA10 0DW
01749 814 946 or@either.co.uk
Free pictogram font
Email request: or@either.co.uk
This extensive family of pictograms, designed for the British Museum, is available free to use. Email us and we will send it by return. In the spirit of attempting a universal visual language, we think that wide use of pictograms can only increase accessibility. And, at last, a coherent alternative to the clumsy British Standard pictograms.
The set of 44 symbols includes the impaired vision pictogram, hearing loop, baby changing facilities, first aid, as well as more prosaic facilities such as audio guides, tickets, lost luggage, and the quintessential ‘Do not feed the pigeons’.
The pictogram font is called Sloane, an Opentype font comprising two parts:
1. Sloane Building
2. Sloane Map
Sloane Building, as the name suggests, is designed for directional signing. Sloane Map is primarily used for museum plans: it has been designed to be recognisable at very small sizes, down to 4mm on the hand-held printed plan. All pictograms are available in each font. The significant difference between the fonts is the bounding box which all Sloane Map pictograms have and which enables coherent stacking of pictograms in restricted spaces. Sloane Building does not use boxes with the exception of the lift pictograms, where the box is integral to the meaning of the symbol.
Designed by Maarten Idema with Lucy or Robert, for Geoff Pickup at the British Museum.
