The Pictogram Builder: Development and Testing of a System to Help Clinicians Illustrate Patient Education Materials
Abstract: In this paper we describe the design and testing of a text-to-pictogram conversion system we devised to support the creation of illustrated patient education materials. The system is composed of three modules: a graphic lexicon, a graphic syntax, and a computer application that enables its user to assemble specific concepts (atomic pictograms) into ‘sentences’ (composite pictograms). We tested the quality of 25 pictograms created using the computer application against an analogous set of pictograms created manually by professional graphic designers (our gold standard). The two pictograms sets (N=50) underwent a recognition test. We found no significant difference in recognition rates between the two sets. Further, 49 of the 50 pictograms scored above the 66.66% minimal recognition rate set by the International Organization for Standardization. Our results indicate the system can effectively support the creation of highly recognizable pictograms, even when used by people with no drawing skills.
Presider: Dorothy Curtis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology