Bar

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Barroom, Bar Room, Cocktail Bar

Category

Concessions, Commercial Facilities, Services, Travel, Tourism

Message / Function

To indicate the location of a licensed bar

	Source	Description
	Unknown	Side view of champagne glass plus bubbles indicating sparkling champagne
	Ecuador	Side view of martini glass with stick
	ISO 7001	Side view of martini glass with stick
	AIGA	Side view of martini glass with olive
	Eco-Mo Foundation	Side view of martini glass with olive
	Dreyfuss	Side view of martini glass with olive
	Dreyfuss	Side view of martini glass with olive
	S/TA	Side view of coupe glass
	EJP	Side view of bar glass with straw/stick
	Düsseldorf Airport	Side view of bar glass with fruit and stick
	O'72	Side view of glass with ice subes, slice of citrus fruit
	ICAO	Side view of two different glasses with drinks, one with straw/stick
	U.S. National Park Service	Side view of martini glass and bottle
	U.S. National Park Service	Side view of wine glass and bottle
	Schiphol	Side view of glass with stem
	CNIS	Side view of wine glass with stem
	Peru 2016	Side view of half full brandy snifter or cognac glass
	BS 8501:2002	Side view of glass with stem
	BAA	Side view of glass with stem
	DB	Side view of glass with stem
	Schweiz-Mobil	Side view of human figure sitting at bar and holding glass

Discussion

It should be regarded that in some cultures the referent Bar covers a wide semantic space and therefore shows a considerable overlap with the concept Refreshments. As already noted above under Message / Function the pictograms displayed on this page are supposed to indicate the location of a licensed bar, and therefore pictograms not closely related to this message were left out. Another related message which could be associated with some of the designs shown above is discussed in the context of Vine Growing, Viticulture, Wine Tasting, and Wine Shop.

Discussing the choices for the AIGA symbol signs concerning the referent Bar, the authors recommended showing a martini glass, as this is a specific bar glass. To reinforce the message, they suggested to add a large dot representing a cherry or an olive (AIGA, 1993, page 85).

Only a limited range of image contents is covered by data from tests:

In a Comprehension Test (Brugger, 1996) of four pictogram designs, which was conducted in Austria, the solution at the top of this table outperformed the AIGA version, which at that time reached a comprehension score of 65.7 compared to a score of 77.0 for the pictogram indicating sparkling champagne. Japanese Comprehension Test results for the pictogram variant labeled as Eco-Mo Foundation indicate an sufficient level of performance with a comprehension score of 78.3 (Eco-Mo Foundation, 2001), but when Fiori (2008) examined a map symbol similar to the AIGA symbol sign, only 47.3 % of the answers were classified as correct. Among the 35 % wrong responses were answers like Fragile, but not enough details are available allowing serious interpretation.

No research data is available for any other pictogram variants.

Tests of pictograms of referent Bar

Brugger: Ch. (1996): Verständnistest UIC Kodex Merkblatt 413. Report to ÖBB GD 02 (Austrian Railways), Vienna, March 1996.

Eco-Mo Foundation (2001): Test data of public information symbols in Japan - Procedure for the testing of public information symbols by the Study Committee. ISO: ISO/TC 145/SC 1 N 329.

Fiori, S. R. (2008): Mapas para o turismo e a interatividade - proposta teórica e prática. Tese de Doutorado - Depto. de Geografia, FFLCH-USP.