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
1)	IATA	Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
	D/FW	Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
	SADC	Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
	Dreyfuss	Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
	BS 8501:2002	Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
	ISO 7001	Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
	SSRS	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	Eco-Mo Foundation	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	Picto'grafics	Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart
	ADCA	Frontal view of standing male human figure: round shoulders, no arms, legs apart
	BAA	Frontal view of standing male human figure: body as rectangle, no arms, legs apart
	ICAO	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	LVA	Frontal view of standing male human figure, legs apart, body and arms form an M
	KFAI	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	Erco	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	Wiener Linien	Frontal view of standing male human figure
2)	Port	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	TAC	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	Toshiba	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	AIGA	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	ÖNORM A 3011	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	Bolivia	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	D'source	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	Expo '70	Frontal view of standing male human figure: no arms, legs as two rectangles
3)	WO'72	Frontal view of standing male human figure: no arms, legs as single rectangle
	DTM Berlin	Frontal view of standing male human figure: no arms, legs as two rectangles
	Nova Scotia	Frontal view of standing male human figure: no arms, legs as two rectangles
	EJP	Frontal view of standing male human figure: no arms, legs as two rectangles
	Arntz	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	OS Berlin	Frontal view of standing male human figure, shoulders emphasized
	Skopec	Frontal view of standing male human figure
	Skopec	Frontal view of standing male human figure wearing kurta
	D'source	Frontal view of standing male human figure wearing dhoti
	Skopec	Frontal view of standing male human figure wearing a long robe
	UNIT Design	Frontal view of standing male human figure wearing a long robe
	Dreyfuss	Frontal view of standing male human figure, arms as separate vertical lines
	exdez	Frontal view of standing male human figure in outline
	Signbox	Frontal view of standing male human figure: arms not shown
	Integral	Contour of frontal view of standing male human figure
	Handbuch wien.gv.at	Frontal view of standing male human figure in outline, legs as single conic shape
	Pannicke & Eschenbach	Frontal view of standing male human figure: no arms, legs as single conic shape
	O'64	Frontal view of standing male human figure: no arms, legs as single conic shape
	Sekta	Frontal view of standing male human figure, asymmetric torso in outline, legs as single conic shape
	Smitshuijzen	Garment with short sleeves and belt, ellipsis above indicating head
	ULB	Circle and rectangles indicating frontal view of standing male human figure
4)	TA	Frontal view of standing male human figure: body: parabolic conic section, no arms, legs: single rectangle
	Nova Scotia	Side view of standing human figure, one leg ahead of the other
	D'source	Frontal view of upper part of standing male human figure
	Erco	Frontal view of upper part of male human figure in sports dress
	Epidauros	Frontal view of upper part of human figure with scarf and pocket square
	Anesckha	Frontal view of upper part of male human figure with tie
	CHBA	Frontal view of male face, hair parted on the side, in outline
	Unknown	Side view of head in outline
	Expo 98	Circle with two dots (eyes), two connected triangles indicating bow tie below
	Mt. Davis Youth Hostel	Square and triangle with rounded corners, triangle pointing downwards below
	Unknown	Stick figure with arms spread horizontally and legs apart
	Dreyfuss	Vertical line, V superimposed
	Bliss	Triangle without base line, pointing upwards ending in vertical line
	Rosenbaum	Letters: Y with ° above
	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.