#91 Im Gespräch mit der Künstlerin Juli Gudehus über Zeichen und Symbole im Gesundheitswesen
Episode von Mehr Einsatz Wagen - Der Podcast von Mehr Einsatz Wagen · 11. September 2026 · 52 min
Medical Information in Icons: Tuktuli, Ebo, and the Future of Visual Communication
This episode explores how medical information can be made understandable through icons and visual grammar, even when translation, plain language, or AI are not enough. Host Tobias speaks with artist and communication designer Juli Gudehus about the Tuktuli project, the IBU project, and why signs can act as a shared human language across cultures, professions, and literacy levels.Together they discuss the difference between signs, symbols, brands, and language, and why creating a visual system for medicine is both a design challenge and a social one. The conversation also touches on the limits of AI, the role of collaboration, and the broader goal of making health information more accessible and humane.
Key topics
Tobias introduces the core challenge: making medical information understandable for everyone, beyond translation and beyond AI.
Juli Gudehus explains Tuktuli as a communication method based on intuitive signs rather than a spoken language with fixed grammar.
The IBU project focuses specifically on translating ibuprofen instructions into icons, with the aim of making key medication information more accessible.
Juli describes her background as an artist working through collage, collecting signs, and building visual meaning from existing cultural material.
The conversation examines how signs already shape daily life, from traffic symbols to brand logos, and how people learn them intuitively.
A major theme is ambiguity: the same sign can mean very different things in different cultures, as shown by the swastika example.
Tobias raises the question of where a sign becomes a brand, a symbol, or a convention, and how shared meaning emerges.
Juli explains that Tuktuli is designed as an additional communication tool, especially useful when people do not share a spoken language.
The IBU project is presented as a slow, collaborative process involving students, professionals, and multilingual contributors across countries.
Both speakers stress that the work is not just about medicine, but also about peace, inclusion, and creating a more understandable world.
LINKS
TUQTULI http://tuqtuli.com/
The ibuproject https://tuqtuli.com/the-ibuproject
The milulayu project https://tuqtuli.com/the-milulayu-project
Genesis – a tuqtuli translation of the creation story https://www.juligudehus.net/en/genesis
Mastodon https://typo.social/@tuqtuli
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/tuqtuli/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557114759155
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tuqtuli/
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