Guemil, open icons for emergency
Guemil is an open source icon initiative, oriented to communities in risk and emergency situations.
As a visual project oriented to build resilience through language, Guemil is a pictogram set aimed to represent risk and emergency situations. In a context requiring precise meanings for critical decisions, icons constitute a potentially global solution to visualise information on diverse stages: before > during > after an emergency. Guemil is a simple resource for a potentially global scenario, available on a website and downloadable as an open source font. Guemil name is given after Mapuche iconography: a symbol of writing system, knowledge and the art of transformation. An international testing process is currently being conducted to evidence performance examining how these icons work. Tests are oriented to observe how representations are recognised, identifying what Meaning and Differences users can state from the visual form. From its adoption and contribution, Guemil will contribute to share a language, facilitating integration to explore innovative solutions for resilience.