Facts and data on pictograms
A few symbols have been associated with health care for a long time, like the red cross and even much earlier, the snake, which appeared as symbol already in ancient times. However, systematic use of symbols for wayfinding in hospitals and other medical facilities has a much shorter tradition. One of the first uniform signage systems was published in the early nineteen-seventies by E. Christopher Klumb Associates. The Architectural Graphics Manual for the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation was intended to ease directing visitors and patients, but also identify staff functions on basis of pictograms and a simplified terminology for healthcare facilities.
Over time, regarding the rapidly increasing number of differing designs and the low quality of many designs, several initiatives were started to reach user friendly and effective public information symbols. The project Universal Symbols in Health Care made an effort to develop a comprehensive set of symbols with the goal to "support implementation of symbols-based wayfinding systems using evidenced-based practice based on research". The final set designed by Mies Hora was presented in a guidebook and is available from the Hablamos Juntos and SEGD websites. Several follow up studies focused on examining the pictograms of this set.
In the evaluation of pictograms intended for wayshowing purposes in hospitals or other clinical facilities, an important aspect should be considered: as studies suggest that many terms used for healthcare facilities are often not understood well by people visiting hospitals or related institutions, it is necessary to collect information concerning knowledge about the medical specialization at the end of testing.
Comparison of Concepts, Examples, Reviews
Below you will find the current compilations of examples plus reviews for public information symbols related to health care.
Pictograms for Health Care: Tests
Below a few basic papers covering a larger number of pictograms intended for way-finding in healthcare environments. You will find more literature in the pages regarding the individual referents resp. medical specializations listed in the table above.
Hashim, M. J., Alkaabi, M. S., & Bharwani, S. (2014): Interpretation of way-finding healthcare symbols by a multicultural population: navigation signage design for global health. Applied ergonomics, 45(3), 503–509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2013.07.002.
Lee, S., Dazkir, S. S., Paik, H. S., & Coskun, A. (2014). Comprehensibility of universal healthcare symbols for wayfinding in healthcare facilities. Applied Ergonomics, 45(4), 878-885. doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2013.11.003
Updated 2026-01-02 by Christoph Brugger