The Appropriateness of Icon Representations for Taiwanese Computer Users

Abstract

This experiment investigated how two factors that relate to icon representations affected Taiwanese computer users. These were: alphabetic or non- alphabetic representations and cultural or standard imagery. Alphabetic representations are representations that show Chinese characters or English words/letters. Non-alphabetic representations are representations that show either concrete or abstract objects. Cultural imagery is imagery that uses ethnic depictions, often shown in a traditional manner. Standard imagery is imagery used in icons found in present software packages used internationally. Fifty-two Taiwanese citizens with a similar ability in English were shown a series of twenty-six icons on a computer screen along with a list of labels, and asked to match the labels with the icons. The results indicated that cultural elements, especially alphabetical cultural elements aided the recognition of icons by participants not familiar with computers.