Pictorial images convey information through visual elements like shapes, colors, and symbols. They show such recognizable subjects as objects, figures, and spaces. They aim to communicate ideas or tell a story visually, making it accessible to a large audience. On the other hand, non pictorial images, such as graphs and charts, represent data or concepts without using realistic visual elements. They rely on symbols, lines, and other abstract graphic forms, dots, planes, and patterns. Use shapes and patterns to help people better grasp complex data or relationships in a visual format.
An image can fall on a spectrum defined at one end by the pictorial and at the other by abstraction (non pictorial) form. Images more similar to the pictorial end are more literal, and pictures that approach abstraction are more interpretive. Also, an image can be mostly pictorial or non pictorial, but it will always be a mixture of the two and will always communicate or represent something.
