Otto Neurath's Isotype and the Rhetoric of Neutrality

Abstract

Based on the modernist belief in universal objective and natural communication, Otto Neurath's Isotype sought to provide a pictorial language system that transcends linguistic and cultural barriers. This essay attempts to do a rhetorical analysis of Isotype, while recognizing that the underlying modernist principles are an unattainable dream. Employing Robin Kinross' notion of "rhetoric of neutrality" as a central theoretical concept, this essay gathers relevant theoretical concepts from rhetorical studies and linguistics, applying them to the analysis. The essay analyzes Isotype in two phases. First, it addresses the rhetorical aspects embedded in Isotype such as stylistic choices, value systems, political or cultural assumptions and visual arguments. Second, it examines how Neurath actively employs the rhetoric of neutrality with simplified form, limited colors, typeface and a generic quality and clustering of pictorial symbols to enhance objective and neutral properties of Isotype.