As a graphic designer, Ihara am applying insights gained from historical research to address contemporary pictogram challenges. My current focus is developing pictogram designs to support communication for individuals with intellectual disabilities. I am conducting research and prototyping designs in collaboration with the Kudo Mao Laboratory at Faculty of Design, Kyushu University. This section introduces this activity through three texts.
The first text, “Intellectual Disabilities and Pictograms: Revisiting Pictogram Standardization History from the Perspective of Understanding by Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities,” is a paper co-authored with Dr. Kudo and presented at the Japan Society for Disability Studies. Building on Rudolf Modley’s pictogram design principles, it extracts typologies of anthropomorphic pictograms based on the concept of “dramatization” and conducts experiments to verify their effectiveness.
The second text, “An Attempt to Expand Pictograms for Communication Support,” introduces prototype designs that concretize variations of JIS pictograms for communication support. These designs are based on the proposal presented at the end of the first text. While still in the production phase and currently limited in number, we plan to expand them going forward.
The final text introduces pictogram designs for Munakata Special Needs School. Munakata Special Needs School is an advanced institution designed under a unified policy from architecture to environmental graphics, opening in April 2026. The pictograms for this school were designed primarily by the Kudo Mao Laboratory, incorporating the perspectives established in the Attempt to Expand Pictograms for Communication Support.