Pinterest icons and Mayan Pictographs are similar in the sense that they both use recognizable pictures of real-life objects to represent concepts, actions, or ideas. Pinterest icons are used to indicate different actions or navigation points that can take place on the app; moreover, they are relatively specific to that platform (e.g. “pin” and “board” icons). Mayan hieroglyphics are composed of pictographs, and the combination of images are used to convey syllables and words, which compose their writing system. Similar to Pinterest, life-like pictures are associated with certain meanings.

For both Pinterest and Mayan pictographs, users/readers must learn of their symbolic meaning. For example, Pinterest’s widely known “pin” icon signifies saving an item (“pinning”) to your board (aka save folder), or the heart icon to signify “liking” a post; these all require an understanding of modern digital symbols and real world physical actions. Mayan pictographs require cultural and linguistic context (animals, gods, religions) as the images represent very abstract ideas or objects. This is especially relevant as multiple images can be combined on each block.

Works Cited

Cartwright, Mark. “Maya Writing.” World History Encyclopedia, February 12, 2014. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/655/maya-writing/#references.