What is a Pictogram?
Also referred to as a picto or a pictograph, a pictogram is a chart or graph used to represent data. Unlike bar graphs or line graphs which have a sole way of expressing data, pictograms use pictures, with each image representing a different physical object.
Graphs can be tricky to interpret at a glance, with separate keys and axis needing to be read to understand better. This struggle goes for adults as much as it does kids, so that pictograms can be handy for everyone! As you’ll see later, all a person needs to be able to interpret the data in a pictogram is a key for how many units one object represents – easy peasy!
Fun Fact: The word ‘pictogram’ can also refer to a pictorial symbol in the language (Egyptian hieroglyphics are probably the most well-known graphic language). In computing, a pictogram would be called an icon.
As you can see above, pictograms vaguely resemble a bar chart, with the clear difference being the pictures inside the bars represent the data. Every pictogram must have a key for readers to distinguish what the image means. So in the above example, children and adults can tell that out of the students asked, five said yellow was their favorite color, with green being the least popular color.
What’s handy about pictograms is that once you’ve explained them to your students, they’ll be capable of using them in various ways to represent different data. What are pictograms used for, though? Let’s find out…
What are pictograms used for?
Beyond school, pictograms are used in much the same way – to help people connect a bar chart and the thing it represents. Again, they’re beneficial when the number involved is enormous. Using pictograms in instances such as this can help people to process what the numbers mean. As well as this, pictograms are used for ratings, progress toward a goal, and summarising the survey results.
You may see pictograms used in advertisements to handle data and show the consensus on a specific topic. As they’re easier to read than any other data representation, viewers can tell at a glance what a chart is trying to say. These pictograms can also be visually striking and very clean, making them more appealing. Ways you might see pictograms used in advertising is to show how popular a product is or a problem people face that a product can help with!
