FOREWORD

This is one of a series of reports produced as part of a contract to develop precise and detailed human factors design guidelines for in-vehicle display icons and other information elements. The contractual effort consists of three phases: analytical, empirical, and integrative.

This report is the first product of the analytical phase. It provides a literature review of research associated with in-vehicle icons and symbols, and describes current test and evaluation practices for icons. It also summarizes driver information requirements for in-vehicle messages and the current use of icons and symbols by manufacturers and after-market vendors.

Copies of this report can be obtained through the Research and Technology Report Center, 9701 Philadelphia Court, Unit Q, Lanham, Maryland 20706, telephone: (301) 577-0818, fax: (301) 577-1421, or the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22161, telephone: (703) 605-6000, fax: (703) 605-6900.

Michael F. Trentacoste
Director, Office of Safety
Research and Development

FHWA-RD-98-164

2. Government Accession No.

3. Recipient's Catalog No.

IN-VEHICLE DISPLAY ICONS AND OTHER INFORMATION ELEMENTS: LITERATURE REVIEW

May 7, 1998

DTFH61-97-C-00061

Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR): Thomas Granda, HRDS

This report describes the objectives, methods, and findings associated with Task A: Perform Literature Review. The purpose of Task A is to conduct a review of relevant symbols and research, including the use of symbols by manufacturers and after-market vendors for existing and planned in-vehicle systems. The methodology employed to complete Task A included: examining articles collected as part of Battelle=s previous guideline development efforts, conducting extensive database searches, and accessing the Internet to gather information regarding the most current use of symbols in existing and future in-vehicle information systems. More than 200 articles, several books, and more than 100 websites were found via this methodology.

On the basis of our review and analyses of the literature for icon and symbol research and current applications, we developed the following conclusions: (1) the lack of guidelines and standards for icons has resulted in design by consensus, a lack of scientific rigor in icon development, and multiple icons for the same messages; (2) existing literature and standards provide little guidance for the design of new icons for in-vehicle information system (IVIS) devices; (3) general design principles for icon design are sufficient to avoid development of a Abad@ icon, but are not specific enough to support development of the Abest@ icon; (4) development of new icons and symbols for in-vehicle devices will require iterative testing and evaluation; existing test and evaluation methods provide sufficient scientific rigor for future evaluations of icons and symbols; and (5) despite industry concerns over the utility and relevance of human factors design guidelines, rigorous and proven methods for design guideline development exist and will be used in Tasks C and F of this project.

No restrictions. This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161.

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22. Price