OCHA adds 500 free humanitarian symbols to communications tools and services
August 2012: A collection of 500 humanitarian symbols has been created by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to help relief workers present emergency and crisis-related information quickly and simply. OCHA’s icons are used throughout the range of information products it produces for the humanitarian community, such as maps, reports, infographics and websites. The icons can be downloaded for free on ReliefWeb and the Noun Project. http://reliefweb.int/report/world/world-humanitarian-and-country-icons-2012
The set of icons covers everything from natural disasters, such as tsunamis and earthquakes, to relief supplies, such as water containers and shelter kits. It also includes complex humanitarian issues, such as access to people in need and protection of civilians.
OCHA humanitarian icons are also available for free (public domain) on the Noun Project. Sofya Polyakov is the co-founder and CEO of The Noun Project—a website that offers a crowdsourced collection of universally recognizable icons for visual communication. She explains: “Symbols are some of the best communication tools we have to overcome many language and cultural barriers. By making symbols easily accessible, OCHA is helping humanitarians, disaster responders and people around the world to quickly and easily communicate important concepts, no matter where they are.”
In addition to the humanitarian icons, 250+ country icons have been developed and are available for free on ReliefWeb site. Each country is represented with its capital and neighbouring countries. http://reliefweb.int/report/world/world-humanitarian-and-country-icons-2012
Example of infographic using the humanitarian icons. This infographic was developed to highlight key figures one month after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Ecuador on 16 April 2016.
