Telephone

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Phone, Public Telephone, Telephone Facility, Telephone Booth, Telephone Box

Category

Public Facilities, General Information, Communications and Technology

Message / Function

To indicate the location of public telephone facilities and to identify telephone booths
Note: This does not cover cell phone / mobile phone and the specific use to indicate telephone numbers

	Source	Description
	ICBLB	Telephone with dial, receiver on the side
	BTA 1989	Telephone with keypad, receiver with cable on the side
	HafenCity Hamburg	Telephone with keypad, receiver on the side
	BVG	Front view of telephone with keypad
	Transantiago	Telephone receiver, keypad on the right indicated by array of nine dots
	Vuković	Extremely simplified front view of telephone
	ADCA	Simplified front view of telephone
	Expo 70	Front view of telephone with dial
	O'64	Front view of vintage telephone with dial
	D'source	Telephone receiver, dial on the right
	O'68	Telephone dial
	ULB	Telephone dial
	AIT	Side view of telephone receiver with cable
	Haettenschweiler	Side view of telephone receiver with spiral cord
	Zurich Airport	Side view of telephone receiver with spiral cord
	Nova Scotia	Side view of telephone receiver with spiral cord
	UNCRT	Side view of telephone receiver with cable
	Dreyfuss	Side view of telephone receiver with cable
	Renner	Side view of telephone receiver with cable
	Handbuch wien.gv.at	Side view of telephone receiver, three parallel arcs
	Aicher	Side view of telephone receiver
	Tern	Side view of telephone receiver
	Transport for London	Side view of telephone receiver
	ÖNORM A 3011	Side view of telephone receiver
	PC	Side view of telephone receiver
	CNIS	Side view of telephone receiver
	BS 8501:2002	Side view of telephone receiver
	NARSSM	Side view of telephone receiver
	ISO 7001	Side view of telephone receiver
	Muthesius	Side view of telephone receiver
	MUTCD	Side view of telephone receiver
	Eco-Mo Foundation	Side view of telephone receiver
	AIGA	Side view of telephone receiver
	U.S. National Park Service	Side view of telephone receiver
	Ota	Side view of telephone receiver in outline
	IEC 60417	Side view of telephone receiver in outline
	adlerschmidt	Side view of telephone receiver in outline

Note: Some of the examples shown above were mirrored horizontally to contrast differences.

Discussion

The collection shown above is only a small selection of the wide variety of pictograms used all over the world for the message Telephone. Most of these differ just in small details.
Note: Pictograms for cell phone / mobile phone and symbols to indicate telephone numbers as well as telephone emojis were not included in this compilation.

Test results found in our database cover several aspects regarding pictograms for Telephone:

Gehringer (1979) used the Production Method to explore which mental images or visual stereotypes exist concerning the message Telephone. The results were somewhat more heterogeneous than the selection shown above with two concepts dominating: a telephone receiver was drawn by 28 % of the respondents and a telephone by 25 %. A telephone booth with telephone receiver was drawn by 13 % of the respondents, a version not found in our internal collection of more than 150 symbols used in public. 16 % of the drawings had a different image content and 18 % of the participants did not produce any image. Due to the change in technology we probably would find quite a different picture if this research would be repeated today.

In her dissertation concerning optimization of pictograms, Skone (1977) examined three different renderings of a telephone receiver with varying level of detail. The outline version tested seemed to be least effective. Reaction times were slightly better for a pictogram variant where earpiece and mouthpiece were distinct parts of the receiver and clearly separated from the handset.

In almost all papers referenced below with data concerning comprehensibility of pictograms for the referent Telephone, pictogram variants showing a side view of telephone receiver evoked close to 100 % correct responses. Only in a Brazilean study of map symbols just 79.6 % of the responses were classified as correct (Fiori, 2008).

In a Matching Test conducted in The Netherlands with a set of 29 symbols (Zwaga & Boersema, 1983) 94 % selected the correct symbol.

The excellent test results for variants showing a side view of telephone receiver can also be seen as a good example of how using a part can work effectively in representing the whole.

The importance of this symbol, even though still highly comprehensible for most people, will diminish in the long term, as public telephones are being removed more and more. Probably variations of this theme used to indicate telephone numbers will stay relevant.

Recommendations

Telephone

Regarding all data available, we recommend the use of a pictogram where earpiece and mouthpiece are distinct parts of the receiver and clearly separated from the handset, as for example in these renderings from ÖNORM or CNIS.

Tests of pictograms of referent Telephone

Brugger, Ch. (1978): Bericht über die Auswertung des Erkennungstests vom November/Dezember 1977. Report to the Austrian Standards Institute, Vienna, 1978-03-06.

Collins, B.L. & Pierman, B.C. (1979): Evaluation of Safety Symbols. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, NBSIR 79-1760, June 1979.

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.

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

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.

Skone, K. (1977): Erkennbarkeit von Symbolvarianten. Dissertation, Psychology Department, University of Vienna.

Zwaga, H.J. & Boersema, T. (1983): Evaluation of a set of graphic symbols. Applied Ergonomics, 14, 1, 43-54.