International assessment of judged symbol comprehensibility

Abstract

S ymbols are widely used internationally to communicate to people with different languages, but the large number of symbols for any particular meaning or referent may cause confusion. Some international organizations attempt to prevent this confusion by recommending standard symbols, and in some cases base their recommendation on the results of assessing the comprehensibility of alternative symbol designs. In this study, four variants of a public information symbol for an automatic teller machine (cash machine) were compared in three countries (United Kingdom, Korea, and Iran) using the comprehension judgement test recommended by the International Standards Organization in ISO 9186: 2001. In this test respondents are shown variants of a symbol, told the intended meaning, and asked to estimate the percentage of the general population that they expect would understand each variant correctly. The data from the three countries are interpreted as supporting the view that the criterion a variant of a public information symbol must reach before it can be recommended as a standard should be 66% rather than 85%. The responses indicated that respondents in the three different countries agreed on the variant estimated to be most comprehensible. This showed the more realistic representation of the position of a hand and fingers when using the machine, indicating that more realistic portrayals yield higher estimates. A variant that did not include a hand obtained the lowest estimates. Respondents from Iran gave lower estimates of comprehensibility than those from UK and Korea, emphasizing the need to collect data from different countries when gathering information on which to base an international standard symbol. The agreement between the three countries is seen as support for the view that there are general principles that can be applied to help make a symbol more meaningful, and for the use of the judgement test when deciding on an internationally standard symbol.L es symboles sont largement utilisés internationalement pour communiquer avec les gens en utilisant différents langages. Mais la grande majorité des symboles ayant un sens particulier ou un référent causent de la confusion. Certaines organisations internationales tentent de prévenir cette confusion en recommandant des symboles normatifs et, dans certains cas, elles basent leurs recommandations sur les résultats d'évaluation de la compréhensibilité de designs de symboles alternatifs. Dans la présente étude, quatre variantes d'un symbole d'information publique pour les caisses enregistreuses furent comparées dans trois pays (Royaume-Uni, Corée et Iran), en utilisant le test de jugement de compréhension recommandé par l'Organisation internationale des standards ISO 9186: 2001. Dans ce test, on montre aux répondants des variantes d'un symbole. On leur demande de dire ce que ces variantes représentent selon eux et d'estimer le pourcentage de la population générale qui sera en mesure de comprendre correctement chaque variante. Les données obtenues dans ces trois pays a...

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