From prehistoric cave paintings to old family photos, remnants of images and writings have been used to understand another life. In a thousand years, or if extraterrestrial life were to try to understand us right now, what artifacts would they find and how would they interpret us, our architecture, our habits and our homes?
The pictograms in the Bank of America portal 
for check customization is meant to comprehensively cater for all their customers—their diverse backgrounds, professions and hobbies. If someone had no knowledge of America (if America was their ‘Elsewhere’) what would they decipher out of this collection of pictograms?
And how can we trust that it would accurately represent the full extent of America—whatever ‘America’ may be? The Golden Record 
was a collection of sounds and images of Earth launched into space, in hopes that intelligent life might find it. NASA describes the endeavor as ‘a kind of time capsule, intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials.’ But who is telling it, and whose story is being told?
BofA’s collection of pictograms may have the intension of being inclusive, but upon closer inspection it reveals an unexpectedly curated reading of America—a narrative of its landscape, its people and its values.
The pictograms in the Bank of America portal
And how can we trust that it would accurately represent the full extent of America—whatever ‘America’ may be? The Golden Record
BofA’s collection of pictograms may have the intension of being inclusive, but upon closer inspection it reveals an unexpectedly curated reading of America—a narrative of its landscape, its people and its values.
↓ Click and drag to open book
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