pictograms.info
Facts and data on pictograms Literature

Male

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Man, Men, Gentlemen

Category

General Information

Message / Function

For notice in general and to indicate facilities limited to males

 

Source Description
Modley & Myers page 82, International Air Transport Association (IATA): Pictogram Toilets, Men1) IATA Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
Modley & Myers page 79, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport: Pictogram Toilets, Men D/FW Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
Detail from Toilets Sign GFS B5-2 from South Africa SADC Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
Dreyfuss page 34: Men's Toilet Dreyfuss Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
BS 8501 Public Information Symbol No 5002: Gentlemen’s Toilet BS 8501:2002 Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
ISO 7001 Public Information Symbol PI PF 004 Toilets - Male ISO 7001 Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
Modley & Myers page 110, Swedish Standard Recreation Symbols (SSRS): Pictogram Toilets, Men SSRS Frontal view of standing male human figure
Eco-Mo Foundation Pictogram A07: Men Eco-Mo
Foundation
Frontal view of standing male human figure
Modley & Myers Page 101, Picto'grafics Pictogram: Toilets, Men Picto'grafics Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
Modley & Myers page 75, ADCA: Pictogram Toilets, Men ADCA Frontal view of standing male human figure:
round shoulders, no arms, legs apart
Modley & Myers page 78, BAA: Toilets, Men BAA Frontal view of standing male human figure:
body as rectangle, no arms, legs apart
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Pictogram No 22: Toilets (Men) ICAO Frontal view of standing male human figure
Modley & Myers page 85, Las Vegas Airport (LVA): Pictogram Toilets (Men) LVA Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart, body and arms form an M
Modley & Myers page 84: KFAI Pictogram Toilets, Men KFAI Frontal view of standing male human figure
Erco Pictogram No 005: Toilet/Male Erco Frontal view of standing male human figure
Wiener Linien Pictogram: Man Wiener Linien Frontal view of standing male human figure
Modley & Myers page 60: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Pictogram Toilets, Men2) Port Frontal view of standing male human figure
Hora page 68: Canadian Sign Men's Restroom Available by the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) TAC Frontal view of standing male human figure
Toshiba: Pictogram Man Toshiba Frontal view of standing male human figure
AIGA Symbol Sign No 12: Toilets, Men AIGA Frontal view of standing male human figure
ÖNORM A 3011 Public Information Symbol No 1: Man ÖNORM A 3011 Frontal view of standing male human figure
Pictogram INF028 - Men's Restroom (Baño Hombres) from Bolivia Bolivia Frontal view of standing male human figure
D'source Pictogram Man by Prof. Ravi Poovaiah, India D'source Frontal view of standing male human figure
Modley & Myers page 126: Expo 1970 in Osaka, Symbol for Toilets, Men Expo '70 Frontal view of standing male human figure:
no arms, legs as two rectangles
Modley & Myers page 123, Olympic Winter Games 1972 in Sapporo: Pictogram Toilets, Men3) WO'72 Frontal view of standing male human figure:
no arms, legs as single rectangle
Lunger & Scheiber page 228: Symbol Male from Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Museum of Technology) by GfG DTM Berlin Frontal view of standing male human figure:
no arms, legs as two rectangles
Modley page 130, Nova Scotia: Toilets, Men Pictogram Nova Scotia Frontal view of standing male human figure:
no arms, legs as two rectangles
Experience Japan Pictograms: Toilets (Men) EJP Frontal view of standing male human figure:
no arms, legs as two rectangles
Arntz: Pictogram 431 Man Arntz Frontal view of standing male human figure
Lunger & Scheiber page 396, Olympiastadion Berlin: Pictogram Toilets - Male by Wangler & Abele OS Berlin Frontal view of standing male human figure, shoulders emphasized
Study Design: Pictogram Man by Skopec for Project Pictionalities Skopec Frontal view of standing male human figure
Study Design: Pictogram Man by Skopec for Project Pictionalities Skopec Frontal view of standing male human figure wearing kurta
D'source Pictogram Man by Prof. Ravi Poovaiah, India D'source Frontal view of standing male human figure wearing dhoti
Study Design: Pictogram Man by Skopec for Project Pictionalities Skopec Frontal view of standing male human figure wearing a long robe
Pictogram Male (Dubai) by UNIT Design UNIT Design Frontal view of standing male human figure wearing a long robe
Dreyfuss page 99, Relief Shipments: Men, 15 years and up Dreyfuss Frontal view of standing male human figure, arms as separate vertical lines
Male, detail from Toilets sign by exdez exdez Frontal view of standing male human figure in outline
Signbox Toilet Sign: Male Signbox Frontal view of standing male human figure:
arms not shown
Hodson page 197, Intégral Ruedi Baur: Toilets, Detail Integral Contour of frontal view of standing male human figure
Icon Male (Vienna) from Handbuch wien.gv.at Handbuch wien.gv.at Frontal view of standing male human figure in outline, legs as single conic shape
Symbol: Male by adlerschmidt kommunikationsdesign, Berlin adlerschmidt Frontal view of standing male human figure in outline, legs as single conic shape
Symbol: Male from Otth AG for Arborium, Baar, Switzerland Otth Frontal view of standing male human figure, partially in outline, upper body as triangle, arms not shown
Pictogram Toilets, Men by Pannicke & Eschenbach, HTW Berlin Pannicke &
Eschenbach
Frontal view of standing male human figure:
no arms, legs as single conic shape
Modley & Myers page 90, Summer Olympics Tokyo 1964: Toilets, Men O'64 Frontal view of standing male human figure:
no arms, legs as single conic shape
Pictogram Toilets, Male by Zuzanna Sekta Sekta Frontal view of standing male human figure, asymmetric torso in outline, legs as single conic shape
Smitshuijzen page 346: Pictogram Male Smitshuijzen Garment with short sleeves and belt, ellipsis above indicating head
Stiebner & Urban page 331: Pictogram Male from the Université libre de Bruxelles ULB Circle and rectangles indicating frontal view of standing male human figure
Modley & Myers page 117, Tokyo Airport (TA): Toilets, Men4) TA Frontal view of standing male human figure:
body: parabolic conic section, no arms, legs: single rectangle
Modley & Myers page 130, Nova Scotia: Pictogram Men Only Nova Scotia Side view of standing human figure, one leg ahead of the other
D'source Pictogram Man by Prof. Ravi Poovaiah, India D'source Frontal view of upper part of standing male human figure
Erco Pictogram No 663: Sportsmen Erco Frontal view of upper part of male human figure in sports dress
Icon No 3188099: Business Man by Dutchicon (Iconfinder) Dutchicon Frontal view of upper part of male human figure with tie
Sign Toilets for Men from Epidauros (Greece) Epidauros Frontal view of upper part of human figure with scarf and pocket square
Icon 2186728: Man by Anesckha Anesckha Frontal view of upper part of male human figure with tie
Children's Hospital of Buenos Aires, Pictogram Male CHBA Frontal view of male face, hair parted on the side, in outline
Pictogram Male from an unknown source Unknown Side view of head in outline
Expo 98, Lissabon: Toilets, Men by Shigeo Fukuda Expo 98 Circle with two dots (eyes), two connected triangles indicating bow tie below
Hodson page 90: Symbol Male (Hong Kong Design Institute, 2012) Mt. Davis
Youth Hostel
Square and triangle with rounded corners, triangle pointing downwards below
Symbol Male from an unknown source Unknown Stick figure with arms spread horizontally and legs apart
Dreyfuss page 89: Astrology Symbol Man Dreyfuss Vertical line, V superimposed
Aicher & Krampen page 119: Symbol Man by Bliss, 1965 Bliss Triangle without base line, pointing upwards ending in vertical line
Smitshuijzen page 347: Gents; design idea by Sarah Rosenbaum 2004 Rosenbaum Letters: Y with ° above
Biology: Symbol Male from Dreyfuss page 55 Biology Circle, arrow pointing upwards to the right

Note: Pictograms or images of Man, Walking are not part of this collection.

Discussion

The collection shown above is only a small selection of the wide variety of graphic symbols used all over the world for messages related to the referent Man or to indicate facilities limited to Males. Some show local charac­teristics or signs of their times therefore limiting application. Besides the variants shown above a lot more versions exist for toilet signage, sometimes with a focus on posture related to urinating, many also with an intended humorous component, often also difficult to interpret if not presented in combination with the corresponding symbol for Female, and therefore completely inappropriate for general application.

Most studies and discussions regarding this topic are focusing on toilet symbols (e.g. have a look at a blog post with lots of examples and comments by Marissa: https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/09/02/guest-post-go-where-sex-gender-and-toilets/), so there is only limited data available considering a more general use:

Gehringer (1979) used the Production Method to explore which mental images or visual stereotypes exist concerning the message Man. The results are more diverse than the selection shown above, with one image content dominating: a male human figure was drawn by 55 % of the respondents. The other images were renderings of the head of a man (14 %) and the symbol from biology (7 %). 15 % of the respondents produced other solutions like a men's hat, pants, a walking stick, or even a pipe, and 9 % did not offer any image.

Basically many rendering showing a male human figure probably are identified as such rather well: in a Japanese study the pictogram variant labeled as Eco-Mo Foundation for example seems to be comprehensible with a compre­hension score of 76.6 (Eco-Mo Foundation, 2001). Mackett-Stout & Dewar (1981) combined a number of measures to identify the relative effectiveness of a set of variants. In the evaluation of the four variants marked with 1) to 4), the variant of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reached the highest efficieny index, and all variants tested except the old Tokyo Airport (TA) variant reached acceptable comprehension rates among the university students volunteering as respondents. The numbering used reflects the rank order of the efficieny index calculated in this study.

But there are more aspects to regard, some of which we already mentioned in our discussion regarding the referent Toilet. In the end excellent comprehensibility, clear discriminablity from related messages, as well as sufficient legibility also for persons with impaired vision has to be a main concern.

One additional aspect maybe sometimes not regarded is mentioned in the symbol design recommendations of the symbol sign study (AIGA, 1993, page 49): 'Research has disclosed that figures with legs separated ... are inviting targets for graffiti artists, especially when the background color is light'.

Tests of pictograms of referent Male

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.

Gehringer, J. (1979): Untersuchung über die zeichnerische Gestaltung von Pictogrammen in Abhängigkeit von einigen Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen, sowie Überprüfung einiger Bildzeichen auf ihre Erkennbarkeit. Dissertation, Psychology Department, University of Vienna.

Tests of pictograms of referent Toilet: Male

Easterby, R.S. & Graydon, I.R. (1981 a): Evaluation of Public Information Symbols: ISO Test: 1979/80 Series. Part I: Appropriateness Ranking Tests. AP Report 99, Applied Psychology Department, University of Aston in Birmingham, January 1981.

Easterby, R.S. & Graydon, I.R. (1981 b): Evaluation of Public Information Symbols: ISO 1979/80 Test Series. Part II: Comprehension/Recognition Tests. AP Report 100, Applied Psychology Department, University of Aston in Birmingham, January 1981.

Mackett-Stout, J. & Dewar, R.L. (1981): Evaluation of Public Information Signs. Human Factors, 1981, 23, 139-151.

Trisnawati, S. & Sriwarno, A. (2018): Visual perception of pictorial signage of public toilets depicted as human figures. Cogent Arts & Humanities. 5. 10.1080/23311983.2018.1553325.

See also

Female, Toilet, Barber Shop, Hairdresser

 

Updated 2024-12-13 by Ch.Brugger