The most iconic international symbols in history were created by an esteemed Arab-American graphic designer in partnership with the U.S. DOT for the 1976 bicentennial
The iconic international Symbol Signs - like the women & men bathroom figures, no smoking sign, mail symbol - were designed by Arab-American artist Roger Cook for the U.S. bicentennial in 1976.
The late Rajie "Roger" Cook (d. 2021) was an acclaimed Palestinian-American graphic designer, born to Christian immigrants from Ramallah in 1930. His given name was Rajie but went by "Roger" for most of his life, after a childhood teacher struggled with pronouncing his Arab name.
After graduating from Pratt Institute's Advertising Design program in 1953, Roger's visionary artistic talent quickly had him hired by the best advertising firms in the world, before starting the firm Cook & Shanosky with his partner Don on Madison Avenue in the late 1960s.
In 1976, Cook & Shanosky won a highly competitive design project by AIGA & the U.S. Department of Transportation to design a set of "pictographs" that could be internationally and universally understood. According to Cook's 2021 obituary in the NYTimes, the goal of the project was to create "symbols that could be universally understood, and that would efficiently convey the kinds of information people in a public place might need — which restroom was for which gender, the location of the nearest elevator, whether smoking was permitted and so on. The signage the two came up with, 34 pictographs (with others added later), is still in use today: the generic male and female figures; the cigarette in a circle with the red line through it; the minimalist locomotive and plane to signify train station and airport."
This project is the reason you see the same signs whether you're traveling through middle America or Indonesia. Simple, perfect symbols that direct anyone of any language, where to go.
But an even bigger creative undertaking came later in life for Rajie, as he began to explore his Palestinian roots. As a deacon with the Presbyterian church and a community leader, Roger lead trips for his church members to the Middle East, and became more shocked & heartbroken with each trip, seeing the catastrophic living conditions of Palestinians in Gaza.
For the last two decades of his life, Roger began going by Rajie again, and used art to tell the real stories of Palestinians and the horrific reality of the ongoing genocide. Rajie passed away in 2021, still praying for peace, just as his Palestinian father had before him.
But on a positive note, it sounds like there's a documentary in production about Rajie, looks like they've interviewed amazing people like Mona Chalabi. Feels like an important story to be told.
Did you know the origins for these symbols?