Recoding Asimov

A Didactic Experiment

Abstract

This contribution presents a didactic experiment carried out in two visual communication schools (ABADIR Catania and IAAD Bologna), aimed at exploring the potential and limitations of icono-pictographic representation as a tool for synthesis and narrative translation. The project is based on the visual “translation” of Isaac Asimov’s short story "The Fun They Had" (1957), which revolves around themes of education, knowledge transmission, and automation. After summarizing the story into ten key points, each student represented each point using a string of original icons, designed within a fixed 9×9 grid. The workshop produced a wide variety of outcomes, ranging from more descriptive or symbolic approaches to coherent systems of personal encoding. The activity prompted significant reflections: on how formal constraints influence creative processes, on the balance between clarity and expressive autonomy, and on the role that iconic, pictographic, and ideographic writing can play in teaching visual communication. The essay reconstructs the context, structure, and outcomes of the workshop, and offers a critical interpretation of the experience from linguistic, graphic, and pedagogical perspectives.