A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and also an ' icon ' , is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object.arly written symbols were based on pictographs (pictures which resemble what they signify) and ideograms (symbols which represent ideas). Ancient Sumerian, Egyptian, and Chinese civilizations began to adapt such symbols to represent concepts, developing them into logographic writing systems.