ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: A computer program has been developed to conduct grouping and matching test of icons in a car dashboard and control panel. The tests are designed in order to understand the perceived grouping and comprehension of the icons. In the grouping test, each participant was asked to group 88 icons shown on the screen according her/his own comprehension about the similarity of the icons. For the matching test module, 44 icons were divided into dashboard and control panel groups and shown to the participants to evaluate their comprehension rate. Grouping test results show that shape and function are the most frequently used coding dimensions in grouping. From the confusion matrix of matching test results, most of the mismatches between icons and their referent were asymmetric confusion. This research also analyzed icons with poor recognition rate based on language barrier, shape features, and relationship between shape and features. Based on this analysis, recommendations for better icon design are proposed.
