This paper proposes an analysis of writing as a system for communication, since its origins, in terms of its uses and socio-cultural context. We shall also look to review and comment on the way in which it has evolved in time and space and its primordial domains for expression. Likewise, we shall look at the current state of affairs with respect to graphic communication, which includes the alphabet, logographic systems and symbols. From a more global point of view, the relationship between the concept of writing and the concept of civilisation is studied and two dimensions are set out: the oral culture and the written culture.