Dowse, Ros, and Martina S. Ehlers. “The Evaluation of Pharmaceutical Pictograms in a Low-Literate South African Population”. Patient Education and Counseling 45, no. 2 (2001): 87-99.
This research study compared how locally developed pharmeceutical pictograms compared to pictograms that were developed without end user input. Pictograms created without participatory design were paired with a locally developed pictogram that had the same meaning. This study took place in South Africa among a group of 46 people who had attended school for a maximum of 7 years.
Participants were first asked to provide their interpretation of each pictogram. Three weeks later, they were polled again. Participants also stated their preference for the localized or the generic pictograms. At the end of the study 20 of the 23 locally developed pictograms rated at greater than 85% comprehension, compared to just 11 of 23 generic pictograms.
This study shows that there is value in creating pictograms with end user input. Each culture has a unique way of looking at the world and interpreting information. These unique viewpoints affect how we perceive all kinds of things, even something as simple as a line drawing of a body part. While the sample size of this study is small, it would be a great starting point for additional research. Other cultures could be studied--even regional differences could be studied.
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