title: Legibility of small icons with color combinations in small displays.
abstract: The present study explored the effects of figure/ground color combinations on legibility of small icons. This experiment used a 2 (icon size) x 3 (icon hue) x 3 (icon saturation) x 3 (background hue) x 3 (background saturation) x2 (luminance contrast) factorial design. Legibility was investigated by response time of subicons with different factors t hat affect discrimination. 11 undergraduate students from the National Formosa University in Taiwan were recruited to participate in the experiment. Their mean age was 21.8 yr. (SD=3.3). Analysis also showed that Icon Size x Luminance Contrast, Background Hue x Luminance Contrast, and Background Saturation x Luminance Contrast significantly affected response time. The results suggested that the higher Luminance Contrast could promote icon legibility but not the icon chromaticity or background chromaticity.
authors: Mechanical Design Engineering Department, National Formosa University, 64, Wen-Wha Road, Huwei, Yunlin, 632 Taiwan, ROC. smhuang@nfu.edu.tw
authors: Shih-Miao
authors: SM
authors: Huang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003118:Color Perception; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011932:Reading; D012858:Size Perception