Designers often use icons to help users find the features they need faster. It seems that icons are more versatile than text. Even the traveler's bracelet has icons, because people of another culture will not understand the language, but they will understand the pictures.
Scientists tried to check whether this is so and how different the recognition of icons is among people of different cultures.
Are Americans different from Koreans in recognizing icons?
The study by Korean scientists Ji Hye Kim and Gong Pyo Lee was presented at the seventh Mobile HCI conference in 2005 in Salzburg.
The study tests three hypotheses:
- Literal and familiar icons work better than new and metaphorical ones.
- Asians and Europeans have different icon recognition.
- Asians will be better at recognizing literal icons than Europeans
Participants
The study involved 10 Koreans and 10 Americans.
Three sets of icons were used: completely metaphorical, more literal and as literal as possible.
Icons for call list, messages, downloads, voice recorder and browser
Experiment
In the first part of the study, participants had to connect icons with captions separately for each set of icons. The error rate and execution time were measured.
In the second part of the experiment, the participants had to choose the icon they like best for each function.
results
Best of all, all respondents recognized the second set - not entirely literal and not entirely abstract.
Icons recognized by Koreans and Americans for call logs, messages, downloads, voice recorder and browser
Koreans were better at recognizing semi-metaphorical and literal icons. Americans were better at recognizing metaphorical icons.
Dependence of the number of correct answers on the set of icons
Nevertheless, the researchers admit that the group was too small to draw any conclusions, and the difference was not significant enough.
They also suspect that they messed up, breaking the icons into sets.
Cultural Difference and Mobile Phone Interface Design: Icon Recognition According to Level of Abstraction Ji Hye Kim, Gong Pyo Lee.
Are Chinese people different from Americans and Germans in recognizing icons?
Research by Sonia Auer and Esther Dick was published at the 12th HCI International 2007 in Beijing.
The study tests two hypotheses:
- There will be no difference between American, Chinese and German recognition of icons.
- But when recognizing icons that are associated with the language of the group (for example, debug for Americans), the group for which this language is native will have better recognition.
Participants
A total of 283 people took part in the survey.
The study did not take into account the data of those who reported problems with the correct display of the survey, and those who have not lived in the country since birth.
We also excluded the results of those who chose “none of these icons” more than 36% of the time, or more than 60% of the icons from the same family.
To obtain equal group sizes, the sample for each country was reduced to 45 participants.
Experiment
The survey took place on the Internet for two months. Advertisements were posted on several news sites and in mailing lists. The questionnaire has been translated into three languages: American English, German and Chinese.
The icons were grouped the way they would be grouped in real software: for example, toolbar icons for settings, or icons in the message bar.
The user was prompted to select an icon representing a function.
To ensure quality results, the icons in the groups were presented in a random order (to avoid the influence of order). There were more icons than the functions they corresponded to (that is, it was impossible to pick up by elimination).
The user should select the icon that best suits important system messages and indicate how confident he is in his choice.
Icons were of two types: cultural and non-cultural.
For example, on the Information icon, the letter I, the first letter of the word Information, serves as a hint for participants from Germany and the United States, but not for participants from China.
The debug icon should be easier to understand for US competitors, but not for Germany or China as it is based on an English pun.
results
For the five culture-related icons, scientists found significant differences between the three nationalities.
Icons that primarily use American culture or language lead to a decrease in recognition levels in the Chinese subgroup, but also in the German subgroup, albeit to a lesser extent.
Americans recognized 83.73% of the icons correctly, Germans 78.81%, and Chinese 68.85%. But for icons related to culture, the correct answers were 86.22% for Americans, 66.22% for Germans, and 47.56% for Chinese.
Left - results for all icons, right - for non-cultural
icons.But even after excluding cultural icons, Chinese users still recognized icons worse than other groups (73.24% versus 81.55% for Germans and 83 , 19% among Americans).
The differences measured cannot be explained by different levels of computer literacy. The researchers compared the self-esteem of beginners, advanced users, and advanced users.
When Does a Difference Make a Difference? A Snapshot on Global Icon Comprehensibility
Sonia Auer, Esther Dick
Are men and women different in icon recognition?
The study was also published at the 12th HCI International Conference 2007 in Beijing.
Scientists wanted to clarify two questions:
- Does gender affect the recognition of different types of icons?
- What types of icons do Taiwanese teens like?
Participants
The study involved 60 people from 16 to 24 years old - 33 women and 27 men. Everyone has used a mobile phone for over 2 years.
Experiment
The icons were divided into three groups:
- Literal
Icons that refer to a specific object or render one of its characteristics. - Metaphorical
Renders an object or concept. The user must connect the imagination to understand their meaning. - Arbitrary
Not related to real objects.
Icons were introduced for functions: multimedia, call recording, settings, contacts and messages.
Users filled out two questionnaires: in the first it was necessary to recognize which section the icon represents, in the second, to indicate which one they like best.
results
Both boys and girls recognized metaphorical icons better, a little worse - literal ones, the worst of all were arbitrary icons.
But in all three categories, the gender difference was not significant.
However, it was found that there is a significant gender difference in the recognition of the abstract badge for "Call Records" (P = 0.019 <0.05). The mean score for women (0.91) was higher than for men (0.67).
In the second part of the experiment, participants had to rate several icons for the same function on the subjective like / dislike criterion.
Both groups preferred literal icons. The second place in the number of points went to metaphorical icons. Abstract icons had the lowest score. This is interesting, considering that metaphorical icons were recognized best, but in the ranking of preferences they came in only second place.
No significant gender difference was found either.
The Effects of Gender Culture on Mobile Phone Icon Recognition
Shunan Chung, Chiyi Chau, Xufan Hsu, and Jim Jiunde Lee
conclusions
Certain icons are harder to recognize for non-Westerners. Therefore, if you are making an international product, it is worth testing the icon set on different audiences.
Women and men of the same culture recognize icons the same way.
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