Youth Hostel

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Hostel, Backpackers Accommodation

Category

Commercial Facilities, Services, Concessions, Travel, Tourism

Message / Function

For notice in general and to indicate where temporary low-cost lodging/accommodation is available or may be booked

	Source	Description
	GSR Portugal	Side view of tree and building with gable roof plus door, horizontal line below
	BS 8501:2002	Side view of tree and building with gable roof plus door, horizontal line below
	UKDT	Side view of tree and building with gable roof plus door, horizontal line below
	Fiori R	Side view of tree and building with gable roof plus door, horizontal line below
	UN 1968	Side view of tree and building with gable roof plus door, horizontal line below
	Magyar Plastiroute	Side view of tree and building with gable roof plus door, horizontal line below
	SWISSTRAFFIC	Side view of tree and building with gable roof plus door, horizontal line below
	France IISR	Side view of tree and building with gable roof plus door, horizontal line below
	Québec	Side view of tree and building with gable roof plus door on wavy base
	Aragón	Side view of tree and building with gable roof plus door
	Parks Canada	Side view of tree and building with gable roof plus door
	Slovenia 2015	Side view of building with gable roof next to tree
	Slovenia 2015	Side view of four beds, inverted V above
	SADC	Side view of building with two bunk beds inside
	Bolivia	Side view of building with gable roof, letters Hs on wall
	BTA 1989	Filled equilateral triangle

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

Discussion

In the table above we also included pictograms of different referents, like Mountain Hut for example, which have an identical image content as some pictogram versions for Youth Hostel. This fact already highlights a problem regarding representations of different types of accommodation on basis of images of buildings. Furthermore no reason can be found for displaying a tree next to the building to signify low cost, especially since many hostels are also located in cities with no trees near these buildings.

In our research we discovered that test data available is very limited:

When Fiori (2008) examined a map symbol for Youth Hostel similar to the most frequent image content found and labeled Fiori R in the collection above, only 10.6 % answered correctly and 29.4 % of the participants did not respond. Wrong responses varied significantly and results indicate that this variant is neither understood well enough nor clearly associated with a specific idea when no or insufficient context information is provided. Some examples of wrong answers: Chalet, Cabin, Cabin in the Alps, Christmas.

Recommendations

As comprehensibility of the predominant image content - a side view of a tree and a building with gable roof plus door - is insufficient and does not signify low cost in any way, and since the few other variants possibly may not work well enough either, we suggest to develop additional new pictogram variants. Then more concepts than the one studied in the paper available should be examined also on basis of a Comprehension Test to identify possible misinterpretations and to improve designs. Only on such a basis a clear decision concerning a specific recommendation can be reached.

Tests of pictograms of referent Youth Hostel

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