Toilet

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Toilets, Public Toilets, Restroom, Restrooms, Public Convenience, Public Lavatory, Sanitary Rooms, Sanitary Facilities, Water Closet, Latrine

Category

Public Facilities, Services, Travel, Tourism

Message / Function

To indicate the location of a public toilet for males or females

	Source	Description
	Dreyfuss	Frontal view of standing male and female human figures separated by washing stand and mirror
	Rosa & Diaz	Frontal view of standing female and male human figures separated by vertical bar
	AIGA	Frontal view of standing female and male human figures separated by vertical bar
	Avanti LID	Frontal view of standing female and male human figures separated by vertical bar
	Eco-Mo Foundation	Frontal view of standing female and male human figures separated by vertical bar
	IUAV	Frontal view of standing male and female human figures separated by vertical bar
	Handbuch wien.gv.at	Contours of standing male and female human figures separated by vertical bar
	O'72	Frontal view of standing male and female human figures separated by vertical line
	Avanti PUM	Frontal view of standing male and female human figures separated by vertical line
	TC	Frontal view of standing male and female human figures separated by thin vertical line
	Transantiago	Frontal view of standing female and male human figures separated by vertical dotted line
	O'64	Frontal view of standing female and male human figures
	Ota	Frontal view of standing female and male human figures
	Port	Frontal view of standing female and male human figures
	Zurich Airport	Frontal view of standing female and male human figures
	ISO 7001	Frontal view of standing male and female human figures
	LVA	Frontal view of standing female and male human figures
	Les Menuires	Frontal view of standing female and male human figures
	Museu Blau	Frontal view of standing male and female human figures
	Signbox	Frontal view of standing male and female human figures
	DTM Berlin	Frontal view of standing male and female human figures
	TA	Frontal view of standing male and female human figures
	Unknown	Downward-pointing and upward-pointing triangles, each with filled circle above
	Rosenbaum	Letters X Y, each with filled circle above
	Mijksenaar 2021	Frontal view of standing human figure, half female and male
	HSSS	Frontal view of standing human figure, half male and female
	Mijksenaar 2021	Frontal view of three standing human figures: male, female, and half male and female
	Mijksenaar 2021	Symbolic rendering of three standing human figures made from circles and triangles
	ISO 7001:1990	Front perspecive of toilet bowl showing seat and lid
	Icograda	Front perspecive of toilet bowl showing seat and lid
	Mijksenaar 2021	Front perspecive of toilet bowl showing seat and cistern
	Wikipedia	Front perspecive of toilet bowl showing seat and cistern
	U.S. National Park Service	Side view of toilet bowl showing seat plus cistern with drop of water
	SIS	Side view of toilet bowl showing seat plus cistern
	Mijksenaar 2021	Side view of toilet bowl showing seat plus cistern
	TOTO	Side view of Japanese squat toilet
	D'source	Plan view of squat toilet
	Gaul	Dotted line indicating water, ending on top of hand
	Mijksenaar 2021	Toilet paper roll, perforation as dashed line
	Mijksenaar 2021	Symbol formed from infinity symbol and biology symbols for male and female and circle in the center
	Boswell	Biology symbols for male and female together plus both rotated and merged
	ÖNORM A 3011	Text WC

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

Discussion

The examples shown above are only a small selection from the wide range of pictograms and symbols used to indicate the location of a public toilet. There are hundreds of variations based on depicting males and females, but we included just a few to illustrate different concepts. A few more examples of renderings of persons used for signifying toilets can be found in the related collections Female and Male. We also included several variants regarding non-binary restroom signage from the research published by Mijksenaar (2021).

There are several issues to regard when selecting a pictogram for Toilet:

The image of a toilet bowl, a gender neutral variant originating from the Icograda student project, reached almost perfect comprehension scores in the ISO test series 1979/80 (Easterby & Graydon 1981). As a result a redesigned version was included in the international standard ISO 7001:1990. Despite excellent comprehensibility one could not notice it anywhere in public even years after its introduction. It was not used because operaters of hotels, restaurants etc. did not accept it. So it might not make sense to optimize an image that offends some taboos or is not accepted for other reasons.
Another issue is the way of displaying gender. This is especially true concerning the representation of females with skirt or dress transporting male views as signs of their times and sometimes exaggerating specific fashion trends. If gender-specific aspects have to be considered, timeless design focusing on relevant characteristics is indispensable. Last but not least it has to be noted, that variants based on man/woman combinations raise gender issues and may be seen as discriminating and excluding. A white paper by Mijksenaar (2021) offers an thorough discussion of these issues and proposes a set of pictograms for all the different functions in an inclusive restroom area.
The use of a hand-wash symbol, as proposed by Chris Gaul, avoids taboos and gender issues as well as local peculiarities, as washing one's hands is common to every culture and is 'sensitive to the delicate subject nature, but linked to a basic restroom action'. As this symbol comes into conflict with symbols related to hand-washing only, he notes the need for two separate symbols. This again may lead to confusions, but in context it might work.
The image of a toilet paper roll is not common as symbol for toilets and seemed to induce more confusion among subjects of a study than any other sign tested. Therefore also decision times registered were longest of all the experiment setups in the research reported by Mijksenaar (2021).
The text WC in Latin script, which is used in many countries and by many organizations (e.g. the UIC), is well understood (Zwaga & Boersema, 1983) especially in Europe and some other regions, but there might be lots of cultures where it does not work. It bypasses all gender related issues but creates new ones as it is based on Latin script. But in the long term it might become a conventional symbol that people from all countries eventually learn to recognize. It should be noted that this concept also is utilized in the European Agreement of the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals for the message Public Lavatory (Sign F, 15).

So it seems there is no perfect way to communicate this message without regional or cultural obstacles.

Recommendations

Toilet

Regarding test results available and following the European Agreement of the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, we recommend a symbol based on the text WC in Latin script. It bypasses all gender related issues, and in the long term it might become a conventional symbol that people from all countries eventually learn to recognize.

Tests of pictograms of referent Toilet

Easterby, R.S. & Graydon, I.R. (1981): 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): 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.

Easterby, R.S. & Zwaga, H.J.G. (1976): Evaluation of Public Information Symbols, ISO Tests: 1975 Series. AP Report 60, Department of Applied Psychology, University of Aston, Birmingham, March 1976.

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.

Hashim, M. J., Alkaabi, M. S., & Bharwani, S. (2014): Interpretation of way-finding healthcare symbols by a multicultural population: navigation signage design for global health. Applied ergonomics, 45(3), 503–509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2013.07.002

Mijksenaar (2021): Beyond the Binary - Setting the wayfinding standard for inclusive restrooms. Retrieved 2023 12 08 from https://inclusivity.mijksenaar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Beyond-the-Binary-A-White-Paper-by-Mijksenaar-2021.pdf

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