Aquarium

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Oceanarium, Oceanium

Category

Entertainment, Tourism, Natural Attractions

Message / Function

To indicate the location of a public aquarium or oceanarium

	Source	Description
	SVI	Side view of one large and three small fish
	Québec	Side view of a seahorse and a fish, each looking in a different direction
	Ecuador	Side view of two exotic fish, several circles (bubbles) near each mouth
	CNIS	Side view of exotic fish, water surface indicated by two wavy lines
1)	GSR Portugal	Side view of exotic fish, several circles (bubbles) above front
	Slovenia 2015	Side view of exotic fish, three filled circles (bubbles) above front
	Düsseldorf Airport	Side view of exotic fish, two circles (bubbles) above front
	EJP	Side view of exotic fish
2)	BS 8501:2002	Fish with two fins and bent caudal peduncle

Note: Some of the examples shown above were mirrored horizontally to contrast differences.

Discussion

Unlike for small private aquariums, the range of pictograms available to indicate the location of a public aquarium or oceanarium is rather small, as a look at the collection above illustrates.

In our research we discovered that there is also only very limited test data available:

Neves (2012) examined two pictograms shown in the table above marked as 1) and 2) on basis of the Comprehensibility Estimation procedure, where the Portuguese variant 1) reached a mean value of 76.8, while pictogram No 8020 from the British Standard BS 8501 was judged as somewhat less comprehensible with a value of 64.5. No information is available about possible misinterpretations and the comprehensibility of any other pictogram variants.

Recommendations

We suggest to conduct studies comparing more concepts than the ones tested in the paper available, including the Chinese variant (CNIS), but also pictogram designs showing more than one species. Such a study should also include a Comprehension Test to identify possible misinterpretations and to improve designs. Only on such a basis a clear decision concerning a specific recommendation can be reached.

Tests of pictograms of referent Aquarium

Neves, J. (2012): Sistema de signos para informação turística: Metodologia para o desenvolvimento de sistemas sinaléticos. Tese de Doutorado - Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Arquitetura.