Examining the efficacy of pictograms on public telephony in Malaysia

The interfaces for human-machine interaction on a public telephone in Malaysian are symbolised by pictograms and icons. This paper attempts to illustrate the effectiveness of the “Phone Card Insert-Eject” pictogram in representing its intended function as an example to the overall study. Subsequently, a new set of pictograms were proposed and evaluated for its comprehension and effectiveness. The pictograms highlighted in this paper are currently found on public telephony installed around the country. A survey was carried out to establish the use of pictorial symbols and icons in relation to the functions of the public telephony. As pictograms are utilised to graphically indicate and represent the functions on machines and equipment, this study was conducted to determine the level of user comprehension and recognition. This paper concludes with the discussion of the test results and recommendations for improving the pictogram designs to enhance the usability and interfaces of Malaysian public telephony.