Loïc Marleix

“The rediscovery of the Lovers Communication Language”

Born in 1939, Ota Yukio is a renowned Japanese designer known for his "Running Man" emergency exit sign among other glyphs widely used today. He has been a professor at Tama University, President of the Japan Society for Science of Signs, and Chief Director of the Sign Center of Japan, earning numerous design accolades and authoring influential works on pictogram design.

Ota's significant contribution includes his 1987 book, ‘ピクトグラムデザイン’ (Pictogram Design), which influenced the creation of emojis in NTT DoCoMo's i-mode phone system in 1999. His travels in Italy in 1964 inspired him to create the Lovers Communication System (LoCoS), a pictorial language aimed at universal understanding, which he first presented internationally in 1971. Ota envisioned LoCoS as a blend of shape, meaning, and sound, facilitating instant comprehension of sentences—a collaborative effort suited to both Eastern and Western linguistic traditions.

Despite the initial publication of LoCoS in 1973 and efforts to popularize it through translations and digital platforms, broader adoption has been limited. Now 84, Ota continues advocating for LoCoS, calling for an international research group to advance the language. Meanwhile, Loïc Marleix has developed a free web platform to introduce LoCoS to new users, highlighting Ota's vision and ongoing digital innovations in the system.

Biography
Loïc Marleix is a French independent designer specializing in systems architecture, interfaces, semiotics, and the study of glyphs. A fervent explorer of Unicode, kaomoji, and sub-internet culture, he has designed a free tool to preserve and explore the language constructed by Japanese designer Ota Yukio under the name ‘Lovers Communication System.’