Symbolic Confusion

How poor symbol design and selection make everyday products

hard to use

What do all of thesesymbols have in common?

They all mean stop—of one type or another

≅

Stop Fast Stop Emerg. Stop Spindle Stop Timed. Stop Stop Light

Progr. Stop Progr. Opt. Stop Media Stop Stop after last rinse

Play next partthen stop

Push to start/push to stop

Stop Browser

1949 PROTOCOL ON ROAD SIGNS AND SIGNALSSymbol A.16

➔ ➔Equipment

Stop

What do you think these mean?

They all mean “start”

Go! StartRecording

EquipmentStart

ProgrammableStart

EngineStart

EngineStart

Engine,Manual Start

EquipmentFast Start

EquipmentStart,

Test Run

StarterMotor

Start/Crank

Start ofShift

Cancel is somewhat more consistent

PowerOn (power physically switched)

Off (power physically switched)

On/Off (toggle, physicaldisconnect)

On (only while pushed;else physical disconnect)

On/Off (toggle, no physicaldisconnect)

Indicates On for a part of equipment

Indicates Off for a part of equipment

Indicates the stand-by state for apart of equipment

Indicates the equipment is ready

Arrow shapes are a keygrammatical element

Shapes and colors have meaning

• Vocabulary• Grammar• Syntax• Semantics• Etymology

StereoSound

+ =Mono

HeadphonesStereo

Headphones

Heat HeatedSeat

HeatedMirror

HeatedHandle

HazardWarning

HazardBroadcast

Alarm PanicAlarm

Safety Fire MandatoryAction

ProhibitedAction

Warning

Symbol Design• IEC 80416-1:2001

– Basic principles for graphical symbols for use on equipment - Part 1: Creation of symbol originals

Basic pattern size (75 mm)

Basic square (50 mm)

Basic circle(same surface area as basic square 2)

Circle (50 mm ⌀)(inscribed inside basic square 2)

Rectangles(same surface area as basic square 2)

Basic square, rotated 45°

Octagon; limit for symbols

But appliance makers don’tusually read the standards, so…

OpenDoor

StepForward1 Frame

Start

+ =Turn off part of machine and play music?

vs.

vs.

Keyboard symbol standard

Caps lock

Num lock

Compose charcter

Backward erase

Control

Escape

Home

End

Prev. page

Next page

Alternate

Undo

Insert

Enter

Return

Actual keyboard symbols in use

Even Apple doesn’t get it right!

IEC standard 60417 says this symbol is a “bell”, as in “doorbell”, but iPhone uses it for the ringer control. And without reading the standards, the most common understanding associates this symbol with alarms—witness most elevator alarm buttons.

But the iPhone documentation shows that activating the Ring/Silent switch doesn’t silence all sounds—it is more selective than that. It silences the ringer, text alerts, calendar alerts, and effects sounds, but not clock alarms. A better display would be:

Telephone Ringer off

Clock Alarms on

Alerts off

Sound Effects off

Vibrating on

iPhone vs. ITU symbols

Previous/Next & Beginning/End

Play next part and then stop

Fast-Forward

Step Forward one frame

Goto start of the currentmedia object

Play Next page

Prev. page

Home

End

Adobe Acrobat page navigation

Media Playback Controls Document Navigation Controls

Must-Read List

• Symbol Sourcebook (Dreyfuss)• Symbol Signs (AIGA)• Graphical-Symbols.info ($500 + $150/year)• Official Signs & Icons 2 ($250;

UltimateSymbol.com)• + relevant ISO & IEC standards ($$$)

Symbol Standards Bodies

• IEC 60417—Graphical Symbols for Use on Equipment• ISO TC 145—Graphical Symbols

– SC1: Public Information Symbols (ISO 7001)– SC2: Safety Colors & Signs (ISO 7010)– SC3: Symbols for Use on Equipment (ISO 7000/IEC 60417)

• ISO TC 159—Ergonomics– SC4: Ergonomics of human-system interaction

• ISO/IEC JTC 1—Information Technology– SC35: User Interfaces– SC37: Biometrics

Key Takeaways

• Very few designers pay attention to standards and existing conventions

• Designers mostly copy each other (often getting it wrong) or invent new, poor symbols

• Even the symbol design committees don’t do everything well, or even read each other’s existing work often enough

• Many official symbols haven’t been tested for comprehensibility

Contact Me

Peter Sheerin

Peter@PetesGuide.com

http://PetesGuide.com/

+1 650 898 7383