Left Luggage

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Left Baggage, Baggage Depot, Baggage Storage, Baggage Checkroom, Left Luggage Service

Category

Public Facilities, Public Services, Travel, Transport Facilities, Tourism, Concessions

Message / Function

To indicate the location of a manned place for the temporary storage of luggage

	Source	Description
	ISO 7001	Four assorted pieces of baggage arranged on two shelves in an orderly fashion
	CNIS	Four assorted pieces of baggage arranged on two shelves in an orderly fashion
	Eco-Mo Foundation	Four assorted pieces of baggage arranged on two shelves in an orderly fashion
	Unknown	Shelve with four pieces of baggage arranged in an orderly fashion
	ICAO	Three assorted pieces of baggage on a shelve with separation
	Düsseldorf Airport	Two assorted pieces of baggage on two shelves
	Schiphol	Two assorted pieces of baggage on two shelves
	DB	Two assorted pieces of baggage, one on shelve
	ÖNORM A 3011:1980	Two assorted pieces of baggage in container with one open side
	ON Testdesign	Suitcase and guitar in container with one open side
	ON Testdesign	Suitcase and golf bag in container with one open side
	ZRH 1978	Suitcase and golf bag in container with one open side
	Erco	Two assorted pieces of baggage with an fat coutline rectangle
	Icograda	Two assorted pieces of baggage inside coutline rectangle
	Icograda	Suitcase with round tag inside coutline rectangle
	UIC 413 b	Suitcase in a shelve
	AIGA / DOT	Suitcase in container with one open side
	BTA 1989	Suitcase above horizontal bar
	Icograda	Suitcase in a shelve with human figure moving away
	WO'72	Suitcase with round tag
	ADV	Suitcase

Discussion

Baggage related messages are mixed up often, especially if pictograms are not designed well or used in an unwise or inappropriate manner. The label Baggage Storage for example is not completely clear, as it may signify either a manned place for the temporary storage of luggage, or just self-service based Luggage Lockers. The referent Left Luggage is supposed to cover the first of these messages, while Luggage Lockers usually are signified by a specific pictogram. Furthermore, in some systems a pictogram showing just a suitcase is used to convey several messages, covering not only Baggage in general, but also Baggage Storage and even Baggage Claim. Results from a Matching Test by Zwaga & Boersema (1983) illustrate the effects on the user.

The first variant in the table above - marked as ISO 7001, but originating from an Icograda student project - was the best performing of thirteen designs evaluated in the ISO test series 1979/80, which included ranking tests as well comprehension testing in several countries (Easterby & Graydon 1981).

An inspection of test results available gives some hints on what might be to regard:

A single piece of luggage will be associated with several luggage related functions and does not convey the specific message as intended (Zwaga & Boersema, 1983).
Adding elements that are not typical representations of luggage like the guitar or the golf bag in the variants marked as ON Testdesign and ZRH 1978 may be misleading and should therefore not be used (Brugger, 1977).
Symbols for different luggage services should include characteristic elements signifying the specific service. Therefore a pictogram for Left Luggage should contain more than one piece of luggage and more than one filled compartment of a shelve (Zwaga & Boersema, 1983).

In projects conducted many years after the ones mentioned before, pictogram variants based on ISO 7001 public information symbol PI PF 012 proved to be rather well comprehensable: in a Japanese study to propose domestically unified graphical symbols based on scientific methods, a comprehension score of 72.4 was determined for the pictogram variant labeled as Eco-Mo Foundation (Eco-Mo Foundation, 2001). An & Chan (2017) examined the sign from the Chinese standard GB/T 10001, Public Information Graphical Symbols, labeled CNIS in the table above. About 93 % correct responses among Chinese respondents indicate that this pictogram variant fulfills the corresponding requirements of relevant ISO and ANSI standards.

Recommendations

We recommend the use of a pictogram similar to public information symbol PI PF 012 from ISO 7001, as it contains more than one piece of luggage and more than one filled compartment of a shelve.

For good measure we suggest to conduct a Comprehension Test comparing this concept with a pictogram variant which has less details and may work better for persons with impaired vision, e.g. like the one used at Düsseldorf Airport, to clarify this subject and support or correct this recommendation.

Tests of pictograms of referent Left Luggage

An, D. & Chan, E.H.W. (2017): Investigating the Comprehension of Public Symbols for Wayfinding in Transit Hubs in China. In: Rau, PL. (eds) Cross-Cultural Design. CCD 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10281. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57931-3_24

Brugger, Ch. (1977): Abschlußbericht über den Erkennungstest. Report to the Austrian Standards Institute, Vienna, 1977-10-04.

Easterby, R.S. & Graydon, I.R. (1981): Evaluation of Public Information Symbols: ISO Test: 1979/80 Series. Part I: Appropriateness Ranking Tests. AP Report 99, Applied Psychology Department, University of Aston in Birmingham, January 1981.

Easterby, R.S. & Graydon, I.R. (1981): Evaluation of Public Information Symbols: ISO 1979/80 Test Series. Part II: Comprehension/Recognition Tests. AP Report 100, Applied Psychology Department, University of Aston in Birmingham, January 1981.

Eco-Mo Foundation (2001): Test data of public information symbols in Japan - Procedure for the testing of public information symbols by the Study Committee. ISO: ISO/TC 145/SC 1 N 329.

Kraft, E. (1976): Ranking-Test. Report to the Austrian Standards Institute (ON) dated 09/76, Vienna.

Zwaga, H.J. & Boersema, T. (1983): Evaluation of a set of graphic symbols. Applied Ergonomics, 14, 1, 43-54.