Safe

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Strongbox, Safe Deposit Box, Room Safe, Vault

Category

Travel, Tourism, Commercial facilities

Message / Function

To indicate the availability or location of a safe-deposit box for storage of money or valuables

	Source	Description
67	ÖNORM A 3011	Safe with opened door showing four locking bolts, plus banknote and coin in front
61	ON Testdesign	Safe behind banknote and coin
	Dreyfuss	Safe door with $-sign within circle
66	ON Testdesign	Keyhole and key inside outline rectangle
71	ON Testdesign	Numeric keypad and keyhole inside rounded outline rectangle
	HSSS	Diamond shape and $ sign in outline rectangle with key above rectangle
55	ON Testdesign	Necklace in outline rectangle with key above rectangle
49	ON Testdesign	Banknotes in outline rectangle with key above rectangle
	Aicher & Krampen	Vault with three dial locks and four spoke handle
54	ON Testdesign	Safe with opened door showing four locking bolts

Discussion

The number of pictograms to indicate the availability or location of a safe-deposit box for storage of money or valuables we found in our database is quite small. It seems no clear visual stereotype exists for the referent Safe.

Also research available is rather limited, as it is from one country only, but of the few pictogram variants we have in our collection, several were examined on basis of tests:

Comprehensibility estimates (Brugger, 1999) were better for pictogram variants that visually resemble a safe than for variants following the often used locker symbol based on an outline rectangle with key above. Some respondents thought that the variant at the bottom of the table above with an image of a safe with an open door, labeled as ON Testdesign, looked like an image of a computer rotated by 90 degrees. It seems that indicating money (banknote, coin or currency mark) in combination with the image of a safe works best. The numbers next to the pictograms in the table above are the mean estimation values reported for the corresponding pictograms in this study.

With a score of 97.5 the topmost pictogram in this table reached almost perfect results in a Comprehension Test conducted in Austria (Brugger, 2000). The context information provided for this referent was: 'In a hotel room'. In this study the numeric keypad inside a rounded outline rectangle was interpreted as telephone by a number respondents and the variant with keyhole and key inside an outline rectangle elicited some responses associated with locking the door of the hotel room.

Recommendation

Safe

Based on the test results available, we recommend the use of pictogram No 168 of ÖNORM A 3011 part 11, designed by Karl Scheiber. It reaches excellent comprehensibility due to the combination of the image of a safe with an opened massive door showing locking bolts, plus a banknote and coin in front of the safe.

In this case the use of perspective to emphasize the massive door with it's locking bolts seems to help getting the message across.

Tests of pictograms of referent Safe

Brugger: Ch. (1999): Verständnisschätzungen - Projekt 1999. Report to the Austrian Standards Institute dated December 1999.

Brugger: Ch. (2000): Verständlichkeitstest ON 2000. Report to the Austrian Standards Institute (ON) dated November 2000, Vienna.