Color Coding and Size Enhancements of Switch Symbol Critical Features

Abstract

The purpose of these two studies was to evaluate recognition performance of symbols on programmable switches using different critical feature enhancement techniques. Based on previous studies, it was assumed that subjects were processing the meaning of the symbols at a holistic level. Enhancing a critical feature (the specific part of the symbol which makes it most identifiable) was proposed as a method for creating a more unique symbol, thereby improving recognition performance. Color coding and size enhancement of the critical feature were evaluated to determine if either technique improved symbol recognition performance. In the first study the size enhancement was between 60–75% in total number of pixels for the critical feature. The amount of size enhancement was limited by the display surface area. In the second study, a new method of size enhancement was utilized whereby the longest axis of the critical feature was increased by 0.10 of an inch. In this study, there was no display surface constraint. In both studies color coding of the critical feature was also evaluated. The results of the first study indicated that only the color coding technique was significant. In the second study, both color coding and size enhancement were significant. It was concluded that in the first study the way in which the size enhancement was applied to the critical feature (an increase in total surface area) was not sufficient to achieve a unique symbol, so it did not improve the subject's recognition ability; however, in the second study, size enhancing the longest axis was sufficient to result in a performance payoff.