Univeral Language: Stick Figures

If humans were to make a language that would be understandable to every country, culture, and person in every corner of the world, it could probably be stick figures. If the ancient Egyptians used stick figures instead of Hieroglyphs, we would have no problem understanding them.

Stick figures are very simple drawings of the human form - a perfectly round head with simple eyes and mouth. A straight line represents the neck and torso, with more straight lines for the arms and legs . Stick figures require no other detail except for the simple facial expressions.

Stick figures can have many different facial expression to indicate their mood, which all depends on the ways the author drew the eyes and mouth – happiness, sadness, anger, jealousy, envy, lack of sleep, fear and more. Stick figures can be a universal language because all people can understand the character\'s mood by looking at its face.

The character’s story is also a detail that can be communicated to the viewer. Flash animation is the software that often produces stick figure stories. Using this animation program, animators can make stories out of stick figures and tell comedies, funny accidents, or events that happen to people every day. Film directors also use stick figures to draft movie scripts because it is one of the simplest forms of imaging.

Stick figures are interesting and informative because they give the viewers the freedom to analyze the meaning for themselves. Different people may have different perceptions of what the story tells them. Because of the stick figure\'s ability to communicate the non-verbal, advertisers, artists, writers, and cartoonists use stick figures to bring out information. Stick figures can be found in much print material, like newspapers and magazines. With the flash animation, stick figure stories can be transmitted via TV, movies, and the Web.


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