文化差異影響公共標誌認知的研究

Cultural Differences in Icon Recognition

公共標誌係一種國際化的標準圖形符號，不同的文化背景是否會影響使用者對標誌的偏好，一直是一個有趣而且值得探討的問題。本研究以三群不同文化背景的受試者來探討文化差異與公共標誌認知的關係。三群受試者為41位在台灣成長未出過國的工科學生，32位在美國留學的台灣留學生，和31位美國麻州塔虎茲大學的工程科系的學生。測試材料係取材自國際標準組織曾經測試過不同版本的十種公共標誌，共計35個標誌符號。受試者被要求根據語意傳達、設計品質、象徵意義三個評估因子，以語意差異法來評估這35個公共標誌。本研究利用三群受試者對不同設計案偏好性的評估資料，作二因子的變異數分析，再以Duncan Grouping作差異性檢定與排序，探討不同文化背景的受試者對不同的標誌設計認知的差異。綜合本研究的結果顯示，文化差異與設計品質對公共標誌的認知確實有顯著的影響，但是其確切的影響要因，需作進一步的研究與探討。

Based on the results of the 1985/6 test series conducted under the sponsorship of ISO, the purpose of this paper is intended to study the cultural factors in the recognition of public information symbols. Cultural differences play an important role in recognition of public information symbols. Therefore, this study is to explore whether there differences in icon recognition among various version of public information symbols and cultural difference of subject groups. The semantic differential method was used for preference ratings. Participants in this study were from three groups: 1） thirty-one American students with engineering background from Tufts University, MA; 2） thirty-two Taiwanese abroad-students in US: 3） Forty-one Taiwanese student with design background from Mingchi Institute of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan. All participants completed the same survey. An English version of the survey was translated and given to American students. Results from the study indicated that culture differences in icon recognition are identified and discussed.