Isotype
Title
Isotype
Collection Items
Annual Iron Production and Immigration
Modern Man in the Making, p. 73. Neurath's Modern Man in the Making (1939) used Isotype to illuminate the social, scientific, and political factors that shaped the modern world. This graphic shows the connection between U.S. iron production and…
Urbanization, Births and Deaths
Modern Man in the Making, p. 45. The top half of this graphic from Modern Man in the Making (1939) shows that, between 1840 and 1930, the percentage of British living in cities doubled while birth and death rates fell roughly in half. This indicates…
Entwicklung der Kohle - und Erdölproduktion seit 1870
Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft, Plate #47 "Development of Coal and Oil Production since 1870". This plate from Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft [Society and Economy] was printed in 1930 before Marie Neurath coined the term "Isotype". Known at the time as the…
Monopolartige Produktionen europäischer Länder und der U.d.S.S.S.R.
Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft, Plate #58-59, "Monopolistic Production in European Countries, non-European Countries, and the USSR". These two plates show how different nations dominate the markets for specific products and commodities. For example,…
Gesellschaftsgliederung in Wien
Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft, Plate #81, "Viennese Social Structure in 1700 and the Present". Literally, "Isotype" means "same type." This means that the same symbol is consistently used to refer to the same concept or object, thus minimizing…
Erwerbstätige Bevölkerung der Erde
Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft, Plate #82, "Worldwide Employment". This plate shows the distribution of various occupations across different parts of the world. Isotype's visual representation makes it immediately obvious that in some parts of the…
Vermögensverteilung im Deutschen Reich
Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft, Plate #91, "Wealth Distribution in Germany". This plate uses only a few simple symbols to present several layers of economic data. It shows that a relatively small number of people—1-2% of the population—have significant…
Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft - Zur Einführung
Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft, Plate #101, "Society and Economy — Introduction". In his Introduction to the portfolio "Society and Economy" Neurath explains some of the many principles that guided both the genesis of the project and its execution:…
Sources of Power/Population
Modern Man in the Making, p. 68-9. These charts from Modern Man in the Making show the connection between energy production, industrialization, and urbanization which, we saw earlier, is a sign of lower death rates. Constructing these charts and…
Where has the 13th floor gone to?
Modern Man in the Making, p. 131. Modern Man in the Making describes the process by which the modern world was coming into existence. But Neurath was under no illusions that this process was inevitable. As this final graphic shows, there are vestiges…