Ink Brush Icon

Ink Brush Icon (YouTube Channel)

”Ink Brush Icon” is a YouTube channel created by Joshua Chao that explores the fascinating parallels between modern graphic design and ancient icon-based writing systems.

It is shown in the first episode that the road sign “Deer Crossing”, the mobile device system icon “Airplane Mode” and the character “Wood” are all based on the same forming principle: “To draw the visible shape”. They are categorized as “Pictograms”.

It is shown in the second episode that the road sign “Chevron Alignment”, the mobile device system icon “Wi-Fi” and the character “Up” are all based on the same forming principle: “To draw the abstract idea”. They are categorized as “Simple Ideograms”.

Countless icons surround us daily—road signs, computer system icons, signage in airports, subway stations, and hospitals. Remarkably, there is also a four-thousand-year-old icon-based language still in use today, complete with its own icon-forming principles, icon-dictionary, and icon-idioms. It is read, written, and spoken by 1.2 billion people worldwide.

This project is a currently discontinued trial run of the new YouTube channel “Iconbelieveit”.