Using Icons to Overcome Communication Barriers during Emergencies: A Case Study of the Show Me Interactive Tools
Amina Patton, Morgan Griffin, Ana Tellez, Mary Ann Petti, Xanthi Scrimgeour · Visible Language · 2015
ABSTRACTThis case study reviews the development of three icon-based tools designed to help workers and volunteers during an emergency communicate with people who have communication challenges, such as limited English proficiency, deafness or hearing impairments, and cognitive delays. Using the classic human figure icons designed by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) for the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) as a basis, we developed over 250 new icons for the tools, a dry erase booklet and two mobile applications for Apple and Android devices. We outline the challenges we faced researching, testing, and developing the icons. We also explore interactivity, animation, and the grouping of icons and suggest ways to push icon design in new directions. This project was a partnership between CommunicateHealth, a health communication company in Northampton, MA, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), Office of Preparedness and Emergency Management.KEYWORDSIcons, public health, emergency preparedness, nonverbal communication, symbolsIt will come as no surprise to designers, or anyone reading a design journal, that people like pictures. But imagery, like photography and iconography, has proved to be an especially powerful tool in communicating messages about health. As Houts et al have shown, imagery in health materials helps people - particularly people with low health literacy - understand and remember information (2006). Given that nine out of ten adults in the United States struggle with complex health information, health communicators have come to recognize that imagery may be more than just a nice adornment to their fact sheets or websites, but an ethical imperative (Kutner et al, 2006).Designers working on health promotion naturally want to use imagery that conveys information as clearly and quickly as possible, so users can grasp essential messages about their health at a glance. For this reason, designers often gravitate toward one of the best-known and ubiquitous forms of iconography: the human figure icons designed by American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) for the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in the 1970s, which were intended as a standard icon system for global communication (Zender, 2006).Derived from the principles of Otto Neurath's work in the 1920s to create a system of universally understood icons, the AIGA/ DOT icons became known as the of pictograms because of their visual cohesion and widespread use. Familiar to virtually anyone who's pushed open the door to a public restroom throughout the world, these icons became a model for countless other systems. In particular, designers have used and adapted the male symbol, which Lupton later dubbed Man (1996).What's most striking about Helvetica man - and the overall approach to icon design - might be his endurance. As Zender and others have observed, these icons have gone essentially unchanged for decades. And in the 21st century, mobile apps have opened up a new venue for these classic icons. A glance at the App Store or Google Play Marketplace will show hundreds of apps - for fitness, health, medical, and countless other uses - that have pressed the Helvetica man into service for an ever-expanding set of duties (Zender, 2006).But designers make a mistake if they incorporate these familiar icons into their work reflexively, assuming that their popular use necessarily means that people understand what they're meant to convey. In fact, studies have found that people often fail to understand similar icons in the way their designers intended.Frascara discusses how designers may passively assume a graphic or icon has an obvious meaning - because of their own personal or cultural context - when it might be baffling to other audiences (2004). He points to the work of Easterby, Graydon, and Zwaga with the International Standards Organization (ISO) as an example; their testing of graphic symbols with users found that these symbols normally perform much below the designers' expectations. …