Marks and signs

Children make personal meanings with their graphical marks and signs. It is only gradually that children early marks transform into signs that they use to communicate their emergent thinking – for their early drawings, maps and writing and in contexts that may be understood as mathematical.

The following examples show some of this development: click on the link below each photo to access more examples.

Gestural / sensory / tactile marks	Early attachment of meanings to graphical marks	Versatile signs

Taxonomy: categories

The taxonomy

 Marks, "are the elements with which the drawing is made. Mark-making is the broad term used to include all marks that  are made visible as a manifestation of applied or gestural  energy.  It is the gestural language of drawing and marks are the components marks within it. There are an infinite number of marks possible, and our nomenclature for them is very limited - lines, dots, dashes, smudges, etc., It is difficult to refer to specific marks, and know that the term adequately communicates its intended meaning."

    From: Maslen, M. & Southern, J. (2011). Drawing projects: An exploration of the language of drawing. Black Dog. (see pages 28-33, emphasis added).

Mark-making (PACEY)