From Question Mark to Exclamation Point: A Visual History

by Mirko Ilic · 18 comments

What do designers do when they aren't sure how to start? That is the question, until ... Eureka!! The question is the answer.

Here are dozens of images that trace the history of the question mark throughout design history, ending with the exclamation point.

See, for example:

Poster for the movie Stranger Than Fiction. Design firm: Bemis Balkind Studio

Book cover for Bush On The Couch. Designer: Rodrigo Corral

Book cover. Design firm: Why Not Associates

I even used the motif for the book jacket of Karl Jaspers' The Question of Guilt.

Book cover for The Question of Guilt. Designer: Mirko Ilic

At least I am in good company:

Maquette for the cover of the book "On Mayakovsky" by Boris Arvatov. Designer: Alexandr Rodchenko

Record cover design for Blue Note. Designer: Reid Miles

The full slideshow on Flickr is below:

All images on this page are courtesy of Mirko Ilic, a New York-based graphic designer and illustrator. He co-authored The Design of Dissent, with Milton Glaser, and The Anatomy of Design and Icons of Graphic Design, with Steven Heller. He teaches illustration at the School of Visual Arts.


If you liked this
Check out more of Mirko's slideshows:

The Story of O: How designers use the letter O as a design motif

Why I Became an Artist: Pictures of artists drawing their models

Books on Books: Using pictures of books to sell books

Beauty and the Beast: The evolution of a classic pose

George W. Bush, Advertising Star: When companies use our president to sell stuff

Got an image to submit? Tell us in the comments!

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Related Posts:

{ 2 trackbacks }

Daily Links 04/15/2011 | EduEyeView
April 15, 2011 at 2:47 pm
From ? to !, Part 2 — Imprint-The Online Community for Graphic Designers
August 16, 2011 at 1:02 pm

{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Eytan Schiowitz July 5, 2010 at 11:17 am

Great collection!?
Here are a few more i came across:
French version of "The Parallax view" 1974. http://i.imgur.com/dgdTb.jpg
Cover for parents guide to education. http://i.imgur.com/gIfdQ.jpg
Qui êtes-vous, Monsieur Sorge? 1961. http://i.imgur.com/I86Xt.jpg

2 Alicia Hallett July 6, 2010 at 2:23 pm

Agree with Eytan!? and a few more. . .
/Users/wb4/Desktop/mirko/52142288.JPG
/Users/wb4/Desktop/mirko/206604705_50a4341cdf.jpg
/Users/wb4/Desktop/mirko/2540263931_632a2e34a0_o.jpg
/Users/wb4/Desktop/mirko/festschrift.jpg
/Users/wb4/Desktop/mirko/qi-nec-flyer.jpg

3 Alicia Hallett July 6, 2010 at 6:10 pm

and a few more. . .
http://imgur.com/DfAxj.jpg
http://imgur.com/U9U9V.jpg
http://imgur.com/FLdlI.jpg
http://imgur.com/iDdqd.jpg
http://imgur.com/naZEo.jpg

4 Greg Eckler July 8, 2010 at 11:41 am

I would love to see the Interobang in design.

5 Ken DeLago July 12, 2010 at 10:50 pm

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4226517&id=819259862#!/photo.php?pid=4226523&id=819259862&fbid=411667929862

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4226517&id=819259862#!/photo.php?pid=4226517&id=819259862&fbid=411667699862

6 Ken DeLago July 12, 2010 at 10:53 pm

Here are a couple more from the archives.

7 Ken DeLago July 12, 2010 at 10:54 pm

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4226517&id=819259862#!/photo.php?pid=4226523&id=819259862&fbid=411667929862

8 Mirko Ilic July 14, 2010 at 2:20 pm

Ken, great design!
Mirko

9 lu salome July 20, 2010 at 5:29 am

pronicljivo,uzbudljivo/...

10 Cedomir Kostovic July 20, 2010 at 1:22 pm

Here is my poster about the Environment designed in Sarajevo 1986 and redesigned 1991 in USA

http://imgur.com/Cv8ft

11 CAMILO ROJAS-LAVADO July 29, 2010 at 10:53 am

Here is one of my illustrations I made for a book I made called IKnowBugs.

http://camilorola.com/IKnowBugs_sex.html

Illustrations composted with Times Roman

Thanks Mirko!

12 Dizajn Studio Box July 29, 2010 at 11:53 am

Gde (Where)
Plakat nastao kao reakcija na sve bahatije (ne)ponašanje
čoveka prema svojoj okolini.
Where - Eco poster - Where to escape, no where. Saving nature.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?id=100000582588085&pid=290926#!/photo.php?pid=290926&id=100000582588085

13 Mihailo Kalabic August 1, 2010 at 12:05 pm

Hope you like it, it's my personal artwork (a message :) )

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=4421460&id=746846596&ref=album&fbid=412563611596

Cheers,
Mihailo

14 Miroslav Svestka April 13, 2011 at 4:45 pm

I'm always amazed how designers can be so creative with simple things, like ?
Great Stuff !!!  Thanks in sharing !!!
Miroslav Svestka
President & CEO
Printing Industry Exchange
http://www.printindustry.com 
 
 

15 Martin Hablesreiter April 14, 2011 at 10:44 am

great pics
some food design fotos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=100000387091271&aid=29

16 Bob Simon August 20, 2011 at 10:59 am

Here's one that I created 10 years ago for a non-profit, anti-censorship client.

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