Pictogram, Icon and Symbols Standards
The position of labels with pictograms, icons and symbols are crucial for an unfamiliar user with impaired vision. All too often labels are positioned in a way that they are obscured from the user's view when the controls are being operated; allowance should be made for the 10% of the population who are left-handed.
Use the links below to navigate to:
- International pictogram, icon and symbols standards
- European pictogram, icon and symbols standards
- Other National pictogram, icon and symbols standards (alphabetical by country)
International Standards
International Electrotechnical Commission
3 rue de Varembé, PO Box 131, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland.
Tel: +41 22 919 0211; Fax: +41 22 919 0300
Email: inmail@iec.ch; Web: www.iec.ch
Committees and Working Groups:
SC 3C - Graphical Symbols For Use On Equipment
Chairman: Yuji Nakamura
Secretary: Dr. Hiroaki Ikeda
- IEC 80416-1 (2001) Basic principles for graphical symbols for use on equipment - Part 1: Creation of symbol originals
International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO)
1, Ch. de la Voie-Creuse, Case postale 56, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland.
Tel: +41 22 749 0111; Fax: +41 22 733 3430
Web www.iso.ch
Committees and Working Groups:
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 35/WG 3 - Graphical Symbols
- ISO/IEC 11581 (1999-2004) Information technology - User system interfaces and symbols - Parts 1-6
- ISO/IEC 13251 (2004) Collection of graphical symbols for office equipment
- ISO/IEC TR 19765 (2007) Information technology - Survey of icons and symbols that provide access to functions and facilities to improve the use of IT products by the elderly and persons with disabilities
- ISO/IEC TR 19766 (2007) Information technology - Guidelines for the design of icons and symbols accessible to all users, including the elderly and persons with disabilities
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 35/WG 4 - User interfaces for mobile devices
Secretary: Phillippe Magnabosco
- ISO/IEC 24755 (2007) Information technology - Screen icons and symbols for personal mobile communication devices
ISO/TC 145/SC 1 - Public Information Symbols
Secretary: Robert E. Stratton
- ISO 3461 (1988) General principles for the creation of graphical symbols - Part 1: Graphical symbols for use on equipment
- ISO 7239 (1990) Development and principles for application of public information symbols
ISO/TC 145/SC 1/WG 1 - Evaluation and Testing of Public Information Symbols
- ISO 9186 (2001) Graphical symbols - Test methods for judged comprehensibility and for comprehension
- ISO 9186 (1989) Procedures for the development and testing of public information symbols
ISO/TC 145/SC 1/WG 4 - Public Information Symbols
- ISO 7001 (1990) Public information symbols
ISO/TC 145/SC 3/WG 2 - Graphical Symbols for Use on Equipment - Index and Synopsis
- ISO 7000 (2004) Graphical symbols for use on equipment - Index and synopsis
European Standards
European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)
650 Route des Lucioles, F-06921 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France.
Tel: +33 4 92 94 42 00; Fax: +33 4 93 65 47 16
Email: helpdesk@etsi.org; Web: www.etsi.org
TCHF - Technical Committee on Human Factors
Chairman: Stephen Furner
- ETSI EG 202 048 (2002) Guidelines on the multimodality of icons, symbols and pictograms
- ETSI EN 301 462 (2000) Symbols to identify telecommunications facilities for deaf and hard of hearing people
- ETSI ES 202 432 (2006) Human Factors (HF); Access symbols for use with video content and ICT devices
- ETSI ETS 300 375 (1994) Human Factors (HF); Pictograms for point-to-point videotelephony
Other National Standards
Japan
Japanese Industrial Standards Committee
1-3-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8901, Japan.
Email: jisc@meti.go.jp; Web: www.jisc.go.jp
Committees and Working Groups:
S - Domestic Wares
- JIS S 0032 (2003) Guidelines for the elderly and people with disabilities - Visual signs and displays - Estimation of minimum legible size for a Japanese single character