- Author
-
Lerner, N. D.
- Title
- Evaluation of Exit Directional Symbols. Final Report.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Sponsor
- National Institute of Standards and Technology,
- Report
-
NBSIR 81-2268,
May 1981,
51 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
-
exit signs
|
fire safety
- Abstract
- This paper discusses visibility considerations for exit symbols and the relationship between understandability and visibility concerns. Two experiments evaluated directional indicators (arrows) in the context of building exit signage. The first experiment compared the visibility of 32 arrows under degraded visual conditions that were comparable to a smoke environment. This experiment had two objectives: (1) the development of a methodology for assessing exit pictogram visibility; and (2) a comparison of the visibilities of the specific arrows tested. A second experiment obtained subjective rankings of the arrow types on the basis of several criteria of concern for exit signage. These criteria included connotative meaning, uniqueness from other directional indicators, and appropriateness. The visibility procedure proved to be statistically sensitive and demonstrated differences in the visibility of different arrows. An analysis of the type of confusions that occurred in errors for each arrow suggested certain relations between graphic features and errors in detection. The second experiment indicated subtantial agreement between participants in ranking the arrows and revealed strong relationships between the several criteria. Together the results of the two experiments were used to evaluate the set of arrows for appropriateness for use with exit designators. Methodological issues in evaluating symbol visibility were considered and other issues of concern in testing exit signage, such as special user groups, were also discussed.