Books and Magazines

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Books & Newspapers, Newsstand, News Stand, News Kiosk, Newsagent, News Agent

Category

Concessions, Commercial Facilities, Travel

Message / Function

To indicate the location of a store for books and magazines, a newsstand, news kiosk or newsagent

	Source	Description
	Tern	Top part of a book in front of top of a folded newspaper with text 'New' implying a title
1)	ÖNORM A 3011	Top part of a book in front of top of a folded newspaper with text 'New' implying a title
	UIC 413	Top part of a book in front of top of a folded newspaper with text 'NEW' implying a title
2)	UIC 413 b	Book placed flat on a folded newspaper seen from above
	TCRP	Book plus folded newspaper with text 'NEWS'
	Eco-Mo Foundation	Magazine with text 'NEWS', flipped open, and small opened booklet
	CNIS	Book placed flat on a folded newspaper seen from above
3)	ON Testdesign	Top part of a book in front of top of a folded newspaper
	Düsseldorf Airport	Book in front folded newspaper
*	UIC Testdesign	Book in front folded newspaper
*	UIC Testdesign	Book in front folded newspaper
	DB 2017	Book in front folded newspaper
	ISO 7001	A magazine flipped open and a folded newspaper
	Zurich Airport	Hand holding folded newspaper, text 'News' above
	MTA	Diagonally arranged folded newspaper with text 'News' and four lines below
	EJP	Opened booklet or magazine showing horizontal lines and rectangle

Discussion

To enhance differentiation from related referents like Library, most pictograms found rely on an image content displaying either a folded newspaper or a magazine flipped open as one of the elements shown. Another characteristic found often is the text 'NEW' or 'NEWS' on the folded newspaper, used to ensure correct understanding.

Research data from three studies cover some pictogram variants for this referent:

Comprehension Test results for the three pictograms marked 1) to 3) in the table above (Brugger, 1983) showed that variant 1) performed best with 72 % responses in the defined domain and revealed better differentiation from the message Library than the other variants examined. Variant 2) from the International Railway Standard 413 - which concerns the signage and the information for the clients in the stations - elicited only 53 % responses in the domain intended, even though it was widely used already at the time of this study. Regarding these results the first variant of this table was included in the Austrian standard ÖNORM A 3011.

In a later study (Brugger, 1996) the two variants marked with a *, both with text symbolized similar to the ISO 7001 variant shown above, could not reach comprehension scores of the ÖNORM A 3011 and the UIC variants, which at that time reached comprehension scores of 73.6 and 69.6. The newspaper head shown in those variants seems to be a relevant detail. With a comprehension score of 60.1 the pictogram variant labeled as Eco-Mo Foundation seemed to be somewhat inferior to the ÖNORM A 3011 pictogram (Eco-Mo Foundation, 2001).

Recommendation

Based on the test results known and regarding design aspects we recommend the use of pictogram No 89 from ÖNORM A 3011 part 4 or Tern Pictogram TS0662 News Stand, Kiosk or News Agent.

Tests of pictograms of referent Books and Magazines

Brugger, Ch. (1983): Abschlußbericht über den Verständnistest. Report to the Austrian Standards Institute (ON) dated May 1983, Vienna.

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.