As a visual communicator, one of the first things I notice about a new place is what non-verbal communication style a region implements. This became more apparent to me on a business trip to Spain. As soon as I landed in Barcelona, I instinctively knew exactly where to go, pick up my bag, and get a cab to the hotel even though Spanish was the dominant written language on the signage.

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Most of what we regularly see in airports and other public spaces in the United States are a standard set of symbols designed in 1974. Created in an effort to unify communication in a shrinking global community, the Department of Transportation produced a set of 50 universal symbols. Most of us see these images, recognize their meaning and immediately understand the symbolism.

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However, as soon as I got settled at the hotel and began exploring, those familiar icons were nowhere to be found. Instead, I started to see quite a bit of visual subtleties that really differ from some of the more standard icons we usually see in the US. I began to interpret these icons very differently from the creator’s intent, based on my American pop-culture upbringing.