Measuring symbol and icon characteristics: Norms for concreteness, complexity, meaningfulness, familiarity, and semantic distance for 239 symbols

Siné J P McDougall, Martin B. Curry, Oscar De Bruijn

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper provides rating norms for a set of symbols and icons selected from a wide variety of sources. These ratings enable the effects of symbol characteristics on user performance to be systematically investigated. The symbol characteristics that have been quantified are considered to be of central relevance to symbol usability research and include concreteness, complexity, meaningfulness, familiarity, and semantic distance. The interrelationships between each of these dimensions is examined and the importance of using normative ratings for experimental research is discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)487-519
Number of pages32
JournalBehavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers
Volume31
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - 1999

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