The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Cultural influences on the comprehensibility of icons in mobile–computer interaction
Abstract
Icons are often considered as language free and therefore assumed to be especially suited for inter-cultural usage. This article examines if icons within the mobile context are inter-culturally comprehensible. The study was carried out in Kerala, South India. Fifty-eight participants of a wide age range (17–75 years) volunteered to take part. The icons under study were representatives for common mobile phone functions and were partly taken from real interfaces and were partly self-created. Icons varied in their concreteness/abstractness and their visual complexity. A naming method was adopted: Participants had first to evaluate what a specific icon pictured (pictorial transparency) and, directly after, they had to indicate the icon's meaning in the context of mobile communication (semantic transparency and comprehensibility). Results showed that the comprehensibility of icons mainly depend on two major characteristics, which can be regarded as culture-unspecific. No matter which cultural background users have, the more details an icon contains and the more concrete an icon is, the more it is correctly interpreted. However, we identified also cultural influences on the comprehensibility of specific icons, showing that icon design also should consider cultural specificities.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Traditional menus became less efficient when the number of items was large.
“and this type of menus became less efficient when the number of items was large.”
From Usability Studies on Mobile User Interface Design Patterns: A Systematic Literature Review (2017) · cites this paper as [44]
The adaptable menu with highlights on recently selected items helped users recognize which items should be adapted.
“The adaptable menu with highlights on recently selected items helped users recognize which items should be adapted.”
From Usability Studies on Mobile User Interface Design Patterns: A Systematic Literature Review (2017) · cites this paper as [44]
The traditional menu did not provide support for frequently selected items.
“However, the traditional menu did not provide support for frequently selected items”
From Usability Studies on Mobile User Interface Design Patterns: A Systematic Literature Review (2017) · cites this paper as [44]
Park et al. found that the traditional menu had higher learnability as the menu items did not change their positions.
“The study found that the traditional menu had higher learnability as the menu items did not change their positions.”
From Usability Studies on Mobile User Interface Design Patterns: A Systematic Literature Review (2017) · cites this paper as [44]
Adaptable menus were more robust but required a significant amount of time to learn adaptation and to memorize which items to adapt.
“Adaptable menus were more robust but required a significant amount of time to learn adaptation and to memorize which items to adapt.”
From Usability Studies on Mobile User Interface Design Patterns: A Systematic Literature Review (2017) · cites this paper as [44]
The traditional menu had higher learnability as the menu items did not change their positions.
“that the traditional menu had higher learnability as the menu items did not change their positions.”
From Usability Studies on Mobile User Interface Design Patterns: A Systematic Literature Review (2017) · cites this paper as [44]
Performance of the adaptive menus was similar to the adaptable one.
“Performance of the adaptive menus was similar to the adaptable one”
From Usability Studies on Mobile User Interface Design Patterns: A Systematic Literature Review (2017) · cites this paper as [44]
Adaptable menu with highlights were in favour by most users, as the highlights could reduce memory load for adaptation.
“In sum, the results showed that adaptable menu with highlights were in favour by most users, as the highlights could reduce memory load for adaptation [44].”
From Usability Studies on Mobile User Interface Design Patterns: A Systematic Literature Review (2017) · cites this paper as [44]
Constantly changing item locations made it difficult for users to develop stable mental representation of the system.
“constantly changing item locations made it difficult for users to develop stable mental representation of the system.”
From Usability Studies on Mobile User Interface Design Patterns: A Systematic Literature Review (2017) · cites this paper as [44]
Icon interpretability greatly depended on icon complexity and concreteness.
“The results showed that icon interpretability greatly depended on icon complexity and concreteness.”
From Usability Studies on Mobile User Interface Design Patterns: A Systematic Literature Review (2017) · cites this paper as [71]
Citations
Cites
No references could be resolved yet.
Research works printed but not linked: 12
- 10.1080/01449298708901853 · DOI
- 10.1037/0033-295X.94.2.115 · DOI · Paper page
- Iherwood , S. , McDougall , S. and Curry , M. B. 2007 . Icon identification in context: the changing role of icon characteristics with user experience . Human Factors , 49 ( 3 ) : 456 – 476 .
- Kluwe , R. H. and Haider , H. 1990 . Models of internal representations of complex systems . Sprache & Kognition , 4 : 173 – 190 .
- 10.1026//0949-3964.47.2.77 · DOI
- McDougall , S. , Curry , M. and De Bruijn , O. 2000 . Exploring the effects of icon charac-teristics on user performance: the role of icon concreteness, complexity, and distinctiveness . Journal of Experimental Psychology , 6 ( 4 ) : 291 – 306 .
- Röse , K. 2004 . “ Intercultural variables: an approach to engineer intercultural human-machine-systems ” . In Work with computing systems 2004 , Edited by: Khalid , H. M. , Helander , M. G. and Yeo , A. W. 209 – 214 . Kuala Lumpur : Damai Science .
- Schröder , S. and Ziefle , M. . Evaluating the usability of cellular phones' menu structure in a cross-cultural society . Proceedings IEA 2006: meeting diversity in ergonomics . Edited by: Konigsveld , E. A. Elsevier .
- Schröder , S. and Ziefle , M. . Icon design on small screens: effects of miniaturization on speed and accuracy in visual search . Proceedings of the 50th Conference on Human Factors and Ergonomics Society . pp. 544 – 549 . Santa Monica : Human Factors and Ergonomic Society .
- Schröder , S. and Ziefle , M. in press . Making a completely icon-based menu in mobile devices to become true: a methodology for its development . Mobile Human-Computer Interaction , In press
- Thomas , A. 1996 . “ Analysis of the acting power of cultural standards ” . In Psychologie des interkulturellen Handelns , Edited by: Thomas , A. 107 – 135 . Göttingen, , Germany : Hogrefe .
- Treisman , A. 1987 . “ Properties, parts, and objects ” . In Handbook of perception and human performance Edited by: Boff , K. R. , Kaufmann , L. and Thomas , F. P. New York, Wiley. (2)1–107
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Usability Studies on Mobile User Interface Design Patterns: A Systematic Literature Review
Punchoojit, L., & Hongwarittorrn, N. (2017) · Advances in Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1155/2017/6787504 · Cited by 235
Metadata
- Authors
- Pappachan, P., & Ziefle, M.
- Affiliations
- RWTH Aachen University (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Pappachan, P.
- ORCID
- Ziefle, M.
- Venue
- Behaviour & Information Technology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2008-07
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 331-337
- ISSN
- 0144-929X (ISSN-L)
- 1362-3001
- OpenAlex
- W2095210285
- Cited by
- 40
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 4.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behaviour and Information Technology (publishedVersion)
- RWTH Publications (RWTH Aachen) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Usability and User Interface Design
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Safety Warnings and Signage
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Keywords
- icons, mobile phone interface, semantic transparency, visual complexity
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
