How do you transform research, personal stories, and complex ideas into compelling visual language that cuts through the noise?

In our increasingly AI-saturated visual landscape, authentic creative voice has never been more valuable—or harder to develop. 

This book reveals how emerging artists and designers worldwide are answering that question, developing systematic approaches to visual language inspired by one of humanity’s most mysterious communication artifacts: the 3,700-year-old undeciphered Phaistos Disc.

From personal narratives to planetary challenges, the work curated for this publication demonstrates how to build distinctive visual grammar—unique systems for translating ideas into images that resonate. It’s less about “getting it right” and more about cultivating critical disruptions—through asking sharper questions, telling bolder stories, and rethinking how we see the world.

Over more than a decade, 45 Symbols has grown from six simultaneous design seminars into a global community shaped by open calls, workshops, exhibitions, and Risograph publications. The 2,025 symbols gathered here are not only a living archive of research inquiries, but also a reflection of the impact of collective experimentation and cross-cultural dialogue.

For students, educators, and practitioners alike, this book offers both inspiration and actionable methods for cultivating the visual storytelling skills our image-flooded world needs most—authentic, systematic, and uniquely personal.

Edited and designed by Andreas Henrich, Olivier Arcioli, and Pascal Glissmann

Published by Slanted Publishers, 2026

Softcover, 320 pages, 8.25 × 11 inches

ISBN: 978-3-94-844095-4