Coffee Shop

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Coffee Bar, Café, Coffee House, Coffeehouse, Tea Room

Category

Services, Concessions, Commercial Facilities, Travel, Tourism

Message / Function

To indicate the location of a coffee shop or café

	Source	Description
	ICAO	Side view of cup and saucer
	ADV	Side view of cup and saucer
	Nova Scotia	Side view of cup and saucer
	TC	Side view of cup and saucer
	Expo 67	Side view of cup and saucer
	IATA	Side view of cup and saucer
	ARS (Ota)	Side view of cup and saucer
	D'source	Side view of cup and saucer
	ADCA	Side view of cup and saucer
	SSRS	Side view of cup and saucer
	AIGA	Side view of cup and saucer
	ISO 7001	Side view of cup and saucer
	O'72	Side view of cup and saucer
	UIC 413	Side view of cup and saucer
	France IISR	Side view of cup and saucer
	Eco-Mo Foundation	Side view of cup and saucer
	Tern	Side view of cup and saucer
	D/FW	Side view of cup and saucer
	Smitshuijzen	Side view of cup and saucer
	NS 1980	Side view of cup and saucer
	KFAI	Side view of cup and saucer
	O'64	Side view of cup and saucer
	TA	Side view of cup and saucer
	Museu Blau	Side view of cup in outline, saucer as horizontal line
	Düsseldorf Airport	Side view of cup in outline, saucer below, wavy line above indicating fume/heat
	IUAV	Side view of cup and saucer, S like shape above indicating fume/heat
	ZRH 1978	Side view of cup and saucer, S like shape in outline above indicating fume/heat
	Ecuador	Side view of cup and saucer, two vertical wavy lines above
	CEAPAT	Side view of cup and saucer, three vertical wavy lines above
	CGN	Side view of cup in outline, two vertical wavy lines above indicating fume/heat
	EJP	Side view of cup, three vertical wavy lines above indicating fume/heat
	NPS	Side view of cup, three vertical wavy lines above indicating fume/heat
	S/TA	Side view of cup, three vertical wavy lines above indicating fume/heat
	O'68	Side view of cup, four vertical wavy lines above indicating fume/heat
	Bolivia	Side view of cup, four vertical wavy lines above indicating fume/heat
	adlerschmidt	Side view of cup, three vertical wavy lines above indicating fume/heat
	Picto'grafics	Side view of cup
	BTA 1989	Side view of cup
	Port	Side view of cup
	WO'72	Side view of cup, spoon above, all inside filled circle
	ZRH 1978	Parallel projection of slice of fancy cake
	Adrien Coquet	Side view of building with door and window, cup with three vertical wavy lines above indicating fume/heat

Discussion

The collection shown above is a subset of the overlapping messages Refreshments, Buffet, Bistro, Snacks, Coffee Shop, Café with a focus on the latter two referents. While no single visual stereotype can be identified for the more complex referent Refreshments, there seems to exist one for Coffee Shop: the side view of a cup, optionally with saucer or wavy lines above indicating fume/heat. But the number of variations of this theme is almost infinite, ranging from tea cups for example from Japan to very simple coffee cups, as the examples from the table above illustrate.

While there are quite a few test results for Refreshments, data for Coffee Shop is rather limited, but still meeting the requirements for confirming the appropriateness of the main concept:

When Fiori (2008) examined a map symbol showing a side view of cup and saucer similar to the symbol sign of the AIGA symbol set on basis of a Comprehension Test, 83.9 % of the responses were classified as correct when applying lenient scoring.

The AIGA pictogram shown in the table above was one of the symbols examined in a study of way-finding symbols for healthcare facilities conducted in the United Arab Emirates. With 99 % of the answers classified as correct it was excellently understood in a Comprehension Test carried out with a sample consisting mostly of young and well educated respondents (Hashim et al., 2014).

Recommendations

Based on the test results available and following the recommendations of ISO and AIGA as well as the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, we recommend the use of a pictogram like PI CF 002 of ISO 7001.

Please check also our comments for Refreshments.

Tests of pictograms of referent Coffee Shop

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

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