Triadic Relationship of Icon Design for Semi-Literate Communities
Icons, or pictorial and graphical objects, are
commonly used in human-computer interaction (HCI) fields as the
mediator in order to communicate information to users. Yet there has
been little studies focusing on a majority of the world’s population –
semi-literate communities – in terms of the fundamental knowhow
for designing icons for such population. In this study, two sets of
icons belonging in different icon taxonomy – abstract and concrete –
are designed for a mobile application for semi-literate agricultural
communities. In this paper, we propose a triadic relationship of an
icon, namely meaning, task and mental image, which inherits the
triadic relationship of a sign. User testing with the application and a
post-pilot questionnaire are conducted as the experimental approach
in two rural villages in India. Icons belonging to concrete taxonomy
perform better than abstract icons on the premise that the design of
the icon fulfills the underlying rules of the proposed triadic
relationship.
[1] ITU. Measuring the Information Society: The ICT Development Index.
International Telecommunications Union, 2012.
[2] UNCTAD. Information economy report: science and technology for
development - The new paradigm of ICT. United Nation Conference on
Trade and Development, 2012.
[3] Half of India's homes have cellphones, but not toilets.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2992061.ece, 2012.
[4] Garcia, M., Badre, A. N., and Stasko, J. T. Development and validation
of icons varying in their abstractness. Interacting with Computers 6,
(1994), 191-211.
[5] Schroder, S., and Ziefle, M. Effects of icon concreteness and complexity
on semantic transparency: younger vs. older users. Presented at
conference, ICCHP '08 Proceedings of the 11th international conference
on Computers Helping People with Special Needs. 2008.
[6] Gittins, D. Icon-based human-computer interaction. International
Journal of Man Machine Studies 24, (1986), 519-543.
[7] McDougall, S. J. P., Curry, M. B., and de Bruijn, O. Exploring the
effects of icon characteristics on user performance: The role of icon
concreteness, complexity and distinctiveness. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Applied 6, 3 (2000), 291-306.
[8] Caplin, S. Icon design: Graphics Icons in Computer Interface Design.
Cassell, 2001.
[9] Havelock, E. A. Prologue to Greek Literacy. University of Cincinnati
Press, 1971.
[10] Grisedale, S., Graves, M., and Grunsteidel, A. Designing a graphical
user interface for healthcare workers in rural India. Presented at
conference, Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems (CHI) (1997).
[11] Parikh, T., Ghosh, K., and Chavan, A. Design considerations for a
financial management system for rural, semi-literate users. Proceedings
of the ACM Conference on Human Computer Factors in Computer
Systems (CHI) (2003).
[12] Medhi, I., Sagar, A., and Toyama, K. Text-Free user interfaces for
illiterate and semiliterate users. Inf. Technol. Int. Devel 4, 1 (2007),
37-50.
[13] Arend, U., Muthig, K.-P., and Wandmacher, J. Evidence for global
feature superiority in menu selection by icons. Behavior and Information
Technology 6, (1987), 411-426.
[14] Rogers, Y., and Oborne, D. J. Pictorial communication of abstract verbs
in related to human-computer interaction. British Journal of
Pshychology 78, (1987), 99-112.
[15] Stammer, R. B., George, D. A., and Carey, M. S. An Evaluation of
Abstract and Concrete Icons for A CAD Package. In E. D. Megaw, ed.,
Contemporary ergonomics. Taylor & Francis, 1989.
[16] Stammer, R. B., and Hoffman, J. Transfer between icon sets and ratings
of icon concreteness and appropriatness. Proceedings of the Human
Factors Society 35th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, (1991).
[17] Stotts, D. B. The usefulness of icons on the computer interface: Effect of
graphical abstraction and functional representation on experienced and
novice users. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics
Society 42nd Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, (1998).
[18] Rogers, Y. Icons at the interface: their underfulness. Interacting with
Computers 1, (1989), 105-117.
[19] Santa, M., Debasis, S., Satya, R. D., et al. Language independent
icon-based interface for accessing internet. Advanced in Computing and
Communications 191, 3 (2011), 172-182.
[20] Statistics, UNESCO Institue for.
http://www.uis.unesco.org/literacy/Pages/adult-youth-literacy-data-viz.a
spx.
[21] Cooper, A., and Reimann, R. About Face 2.0, The Essentials of
Interaction Design. Wiley Publishing, 2003.
[22] Chipchase, J. Understanding Non-Literacy as A Barrier to Mobile Phone
Communication, 2005.
[23] Indrani, M., Somani, P., Emma, B., et al. Designing mobile interfaces
for novie and low-literacy users. ACM Transactions on
Computer-Human Interaction 18, 1 (2011), 2-28.
[24] Ivatury, G. Harnessing technology to transform financial services for the
poor. Small Enterpr. Devel. 15, 4 (2004), 25-30.
[25] Thatcher, A., Shaik, F., and Zimmerman, C. Attitudes of semi-literate
and literate bank account holders to the use of automatic teller machines
(ATM). Int. J. Industrial Ergonomics 35, (2005), 15-30.
[26] Thatcher, A., Mahlangu, S., and Zimmerman, C. Accessibility of ATMs
for the functionality illiterate through icon-based interfaces. Behav. Inf.
Technol. 25, 1 (2006), 65-81.
[27] Sheetal, K. A., Arun, K., Amit, A. N., et al. User-generated content
creation and dissemination in rural areas. USC Annenberg School for
Communication & Journalism 6, 2 (2010), 21-37.
[28] Frohlich, D. M., Rachovides, D., Riga, K., et al. Storybank: mobile
digital storytelling in a development context, Human Factors Computing
Systems (CHI '09), (2009), 1761-1770.
[29] Andrew, M., Gary, M., and Richard, H. Making the link - providing
mobile media for novice communities in the developing world.
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 69, (2011), 647-657.
[30] Peierce, C. S. Collected Papers. Harvard University Press, 1931.
[31] Nadin, M. Interface design: a semiotic paradigm. Semiotica 69, 3/4
(1998), 269-302.
[32] Buchanan, R. Declaration by design: rhetoric, argument, and
demonstration in design practice. Design Issues 2, 1 (1985), 4-22.
[33] Shneiderman, B. Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective
Human-Computer Interaction. Addision-Wesley, 1997.
[34] Siau, K. Human-computer interaction: the effect of application domain
knowledge on icon visualization. J. of Computer Information Systems 45,
3 (2005), 53-62.
[35] Kosslyn, S. M. Scanning visual Images: some structural imagination,
Perception and Psychophysics, 1979.
[36] Miller, A. Imagery in Scientific Thought. MIT Press, 1986.
[37] Anderson, J. R. Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications, 1990.
[38] Norman, D. Things That Make Us Smart. Addison-Wesley, 1993.
[39] Blankenbergers, S., and Hahn, K. Effects of icon design on
human-computer interaction. International Journal of Man Machine
Studies 35, (1991), 363-377.
[40] Isherwood, S. J., McDougall, S. J. P., and Curry, M. B. Icon
identification in context: the changing role of icon characteristics with
user experience. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and
Ergonomics Society 49, 3 (2007), 465-478.
[41] Wang, H.-F., Hung, S.-H., and Liao, C.-C. A survey on of icon
taxonomy used in the interface design. 14th European conference on
Cognitive Ergonomics. London, 2007.
[42] Lodding, K. N. Iconic interfacing. IEEE Computer Graphics and
Applications 3, 2 (1983), 11-20.
[43] Blattner, M. A., Sumikawa, D. A., and Greenberg, R. A. Earcons and
icons: their structure and common design principles. Human-computer
interactions 4, 1 (1989), 11-40.
[44] Purchase, H. Defining multimedia. IEEE Multimedia 5, 1 (1998), 8-15.
[45] Lidwell, W., Holden, K., and Butler, J. Universal Principles of Design.
Rockport Publishers, 2003.
[46] Moyes, J., and Jordan, P. W. Icon design and its effect on guessability,
learnability and experienced user performance. People and Computers
VIII (1993), 49-59.
[47] Sarah, I. Graphics and semantics: the relationship between what is seen
and what is meant in icon design. Engin. Psychol. and Cog. Ergonomics
(2009), 197-205.
[48] Kim, J. H., and Lee, K. P. Cultural difference and mobile phone
interface design: icon recognition according to level of abstraction,
MobileHCI'05, 2005.
[49] Pappachan, P., and Ziefle, M. Cultural Influences on the
comprehensibility of icons in mobile-computer interaction. Behavior and
Information Technology 47, 4 (2008), 331-337.
[50] Satchell, C., and Ziefle, M. The smart phone as globalizing icon of the
early 21st century.
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/Documents/MobilePhone_Globali
zing.pdf, 2010.
[51] Ferguson, A., and Brown, W. Standard symbols - using the iso test
method. In P. T. McCabe, ed., Contemporary Ergonomics. Taylor &
Francis, 2003.
[1] ITU. Measuring the Information Society: The ICT Development Index.
International Telecommunications Union, 2012.
[2] UNCTAD. Information economy report: science and technology for
development - The new paradigm of ICT. United Nation Conference on
Trade and Development, 2012.
[3] Half of India's homes have cellphones, but not toilets.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2992061.ece, 2012.
[4] Garcia, M., Badre, A. N., and Stasko, J. T. Development and validation
of icons varying in their abstractness. Interacting with Computers 6,
(1994), 191-211.
[5] Schroder, S., and Ziefle, M. Effects of icon concreteness and complexity
on semantic transparency: younger vs. older users. Presented at
conference, ICCHP '08 Proceedings of the 11th international conference
on Computers Helping People with Special Needs. 2008.
[6] Gittins, D. Icon-based human-computer interaction. International
Journal of Man Machine Studies 24, (1986), 519-543.
[7] McDougall, S. J. P., Curry, M. B., and de Bruijn, O. Exploring the
effects of icon characteristics on user performance: The role of icon
concreteness, complexity and distinctiveness. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Applied 6, 3 (2000), 291-306.
[8] Caplin, S. Icon design: Graphics Icons in Computer Interface Design.
Cassell, 2001.
[9] Havelock, E. A. Prologue to Greek Literacy. University of Cincinnati
Press, 1971.
[10] Grisedale, S., Graves, M., and Grunsteidel, A. Designing a graphical
user interface for healthcare workers in rural India. Presented at
conference, Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems (CHI) (1997).
[11] Parikh, T., Ghosh, K., and Chavan, A. Design considerations for a
financial management system for rural, semi-literate users. Proceedings
of the ACM Conference on Human Computer Factors in Computer
Systems (CHI) (2003).
[12] Medhi, I., Sagar, A., and Toyama, K. Text-Free user interfaces for
illiterate and semiliterate users. Inf. Technol. Int. Devel 4, 1 (2007),
37-50.
[13] Arend, U., Muthig, K.-P., and Wandmacher, J. Evidence for global
feature superiority in menu selection by icons. Behavior and Information
Technology 6, (1987), 411-426.
[14] Rogers, Y., and Oborne, D. J. Pictorial communication of abstract verbs
in related to human-computer interaction. British Journal of
Pshychology 78, (1987), 99-112.
[15] Stammer, R. B., George, D. A., and Carey, M. S. An Evaluation of
Abstract and Concrete Icons for A CAD Package. In E. D. Megaw, ed.,
Contemporary ergonomics. Taylor & Francis, 1989.
[16] Stammer, R. B., and Hoffman, J. Transfer between icon sets and ratings
of icon concreteness and appropriatness. Proceedings of the Human
Factors Society 35th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, (1991).
[17] Stotts, D. B. The usefulness of icons on the computer interface: Effect of
graphical abstraction and functional representation on experienced and
novice users. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics
Society 42nd Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, (1998).
[18] Rogers, Y. Icons at the interface: their underfulness. Interacting with
Computers 1, (1989), 105-117.
[19] Santa, M., Debasis, S., Satya, R. D., et al. Language independent
icon-based interface for accessing internet. Advanced in Computing and
Communications 191, 3 (2011), 172-182.
[20] Statistics, UNESCO Institue for.
http://www.uis.unesco.org/literacy/Pages/adult-youth-literacy-data-viz.a
spx.
[21] Cooper, A., and Reimann, R. About Face 2.0, The Essentials of
Interaction Design. Wiley Publishing, 2003.
[22] Chipchase, J. Understanding Non-Literacy as A Barrier to Mobile Phone
Communication, 2005.
[23] Indrani, M., Somani, P., Emma, B., et al. Designing mobile interfaces
for novie and low-literacy users. ACM Transactions on
Computer-Human Interaction 18, 1 (2011), 2-28.
[24] Ivatury, G. Harnessing technology to transform financial services for the
poor. Small Enterpr. Devel. 15, 4 (2004), 25-30.
[25] Thatcher, A., Shaik, F., and Zimmerman, C. Attitudes of semi-literate
and literate bank account holders to the use of automatic teller machines
(ATM). Int. J. Industrial Ergonomics 35, (2005), 15-30.
[26] Thatcher, A., Mahlangu, S., and Zimmerman, C. Accessibility of ATMs
for the functionality illiterate through icon-based interfaces. Behav. Inf.
Technol. 25, 1 (2006), 65-81.
[27] Sheetal, K. A., Arun, K., Amit, A. N., et al. User-generated content
creation and dissemination in rural areas. USC Annenberg School for
Communication & Journalism 6, 2 (2010), 21-37.
[28] Frohlich, D. M., Rachovides, D., Riga, K., et al. Storybank: mobile
digital storytelling in a development context, Human Factors Computing
Systems (CHI '09), (2009), 1761-1770.
[29] Andrew, M., Gary, M., and Richard, H. Making the link - providing
mobile media for novice communities in the developing world.
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 69, (2011), 647-657.
[30] Peierce, C. S. Collected Papers. Harvard University Press, 1931.
[31] Nadin, M. Interface design: a semiotic paradigm. Semiotica 69, 3/4
(1998), 269-302.
[32] Buchanan, R. Declaration by design: rhetoric, argument, and
demonstration in design practice. Design Issues 2, 1 (1985), 4-22.
[33] Shneiderman, B. Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective
Human-Computer Interaction. Addision-Wesley, 1997.
[34] Siau, K. Human-computer interaction: the effect of application domain
knowledge on icon visualization. J. of Computer Information Systems 45,
3 (2005), 53-62.
[35] Kosslyn, S. M. Scanning visual Images: some structural imagination,
Perception and Psychophysics, 1979.
[36] Miller, A. Imagery in Scientific Thought. MIT Press, 1986.
[37] Anderson, J. R. Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications, 1990.
[38] Norman, D. Things That Make Us Smart. Addison-Wesley, 1993.
[39] Blankenbergers, S., and Hahn, K. Effects of icon design on
human-computer interaction. International Journal of Man Machine
Studies 35, (1991), 363-377.
[40] Isherwood, S. J., McDougall, S. J. P., and Curry, M. B. Icon
identification in context: the changing role of icon characteristics with
user experience. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and
Ergonomics Society 49, 3 (2007), 465-478.
[41] Wang, H.-F., Hung, S.-H., and Liao, C.-C. A survey on of icon
taxonomy used in the interface design. 14th European conference on
Cognitive Ergonomics. London, 2007.
[42] Lodding, K. N. Iconic interfacing. IEEE Computer Graphics and
Applications 3, 2 (1983), 11-20.
[43] Blattner, M. A., Sumikawa, D. A., and Greenberg, R. A. Earcons and
icons: their structure and common design principles. Human-computer
interactions 4, 1 (1989), 11-40.
[44] Purchase, H. Defining multimedia. IEEE Multimedia 5, 1 (1998), 8-15.
[45] Lidwell, W., Holden, K., and Butler, J. Universal Principles of Design.
Rockport Publishers, 2003.
[46] Moyes, J., and Jordan, P. W. Icon design and its effect on guessability,
learnability and experienced user performance. People and Computers
VIII (1993), 49-59.
[47] Sarah, I. Graphics and semantics: the relationship between what is seen
and what is meant in icon design. Engin. Psychol. and Cog. Ergonomics
(2009), 197-205.
[48] Kim, J. H., and Lee, K. P. Cultural difference and mobile phone
interface design: icon recognition according to level of abstraction,
MobileHCI'05, 2005.
[49] Pappachan, P., and Ziefle, M. Cultural Influences on the
comprehensibility of icons in mobile-computer interaction. Behavior and
Information Technology 47, 4 (2008), 331-337.
[50] Satchell, C., and Ziefle, M. The smart phone as globalizing icon of the
early 21st century.
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/Documents/MobilePhone_Globali
zing.pdf, 2010.
[51] Ferguson, A., and Brown, W. Standard symbols - using the iso test
method. In P. T. McCabe, ed., Contemporary Ergonomics. Taylor &
Francis, 2003.
@article{"International Journal of Information, Control and Computer Sciences:69926", author = "Peng-Hui Maffee Wan and Klarissa Ting Ting Chang and Rax Suen Chun Lung", title = "Triadic Relationship of Icon Design for Semi-Literate Communities", abstract = "Icons, or pictorial and graphical objects, are
commonly used in human-computer interaction (HCI) fields as the
mediator in order to communicate information to users. Yet there has
been little studies focusing on a majority of the world’s population –
semi-literate communities – in terms of the fundamental knowhow
for designing icons for such population. In this study, two sets of
icons belonging in different icon taxonomy – abstract and concrete –
are designed for a mobile application for semi-literate agricultural
communities. In this paper, we propose a triadic relationship of an
icon, namely meaning, task and mental image, which inherits the
triadic relationship of a sign. User testing with the application and a
post-pilot questionnaire are conducted as the experimental approach
in two rural villages in India. Icons belonging to concrete taxonomy
perform better than abstract icons on the premise that the design of
the icon fulfills the underlying rules of the proposed triadic
relationship. ", keywords = "Icon, GUI, mobile app, semi-literate.", volume = "9", number = "5", pages = "1211-9", }
