• Archives of design research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.269-278
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• 2004

This research categorizes various icons that used in PDAs according to symbolization patterns, operating systems and support for color display. Since different icons vary in communication capacity I executed this research to verify it positively. In result, PDA loons were found to have different intuitive communication capacity according to its functions, symbolization pattern, operating system and use of color. \circled1 Icons which have similar object as ones that are used on desktop computer and icons with accurate, simple expression seems to have higher intuitive communication capacity among the icons categorized by functions. \circled2 Among the icons categorized by symbolization pattern, ones that express the action related to their functions have the highest recognition accuracy and longer delay before recognition. \circled3 Among the icons categorized by operating systems, ones that have concrete expression of object and a number of representation elements have higher recognition accuracy and longer delay before recognition. \circled4 Among the icons categorized by color and grayscale, ones with color have superior communication capacity due to additional stimulation although LCDs in most PDAs have limited color depth.