How to Foster Peaceful Coexistence

Urban expansion and the hosting of large events led to the need to equip the capital with new visual information systems designed in a more organised and coherent fashion, including pictograms to guide people through public spaces and graphic identity projects.

Designers worked to implement this approach in parks and universities, as well as at international events related to economics, sport and housing. These were pioneering projects in Chile characterised by experimentation, a diverse range of approaches and teamwork.

These visual systems produced signs and information for United Nations events, international social housing exhibitions, universities and public parks and the identity of the Santiago 1975 7th Pan American Games. As a result of the coup d’état in 1973, several of these projects were never actually implemented.

The pictograms posed a challenge to the coordination and peaceful coexistence of different local groups and nationalities. Even though several of the projects sought to use neutral, apolitical language, they ended up becoming actors in the first democratic socialist revolution’s diplomacy and international outreach.