Refreshments

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Buffet, Bistro, Snack Bar, Snacks, Cafeteria, Coffee Shop, Café

Category

Services, Concessions, Commercial Facilities, Travel, Tourism

Message / Function

To indicate the location of general refreshment facilities

	Source	Description
	Guemil	Spoon above side view of bowl
	Dreyfuss	Spoon above side view of cup
	BTA 1989	Spoon above side view of take away box
	Erco	Fork in front of glass, plate in top view
	Unknown	Spoon and fork in front of side view of bottle and bowl with fume above
	Unknown	Side view of bowl with fume above plus spoon
	ON Testdesign	Top view of plate with sausage, spoon and fork
	EJP	Side view of fork, two vertical lines (noodles) ending in full plate
	OCHA	Side view of filled bowl
	ZRH 1978	Parallel projection of slice of fancy cake
	ON Testdesign	Top view of pair of Wiener sausages and Kaiser roll
	ON Testdesign	Top view of pair of Wiener sausages and Kaiser roll on plate
	CNIS	Side view of cup with straw and filled bun on tray
	EJP	Side view of cup with straw and filled bun, overlapping
	EJP	Side view of filled bun
	DB	Side view of cup with straw and sandwich, overlapping
	U.S. National Park Service	Side view of burger and cup with straw
	S/TA	Side view of cup with straw and burger
	Erco	Side view of glass with straw and burger
	ÖBB 2007	Side view of cup with straw and burger
	ON Testdesign	Side view of glass of beer, top view of sausage
	Aicher & Krampen	Side view of bun with sausage and glass with dot pattern
	ON Testdesign	Top view of sausage left of side view of bun and glass
1)	ÖNORM A 3011	Top view of pair of Wiener sausages and Kaiser roll left of side view of full glass
2)	ON Testdesign	Top view of pair of Wiener sausages and Kaiser roll left of side view of full beer glass
3)	ON Testdesign	Top view of pair of Wiener sausages and Kaiser roll, side view of cup and saucer above
	Aicher & Krampen	Side view of bottle and bun, top view of pair of sausages
	TAC	Side view of egg, thermos flask, and container with apple inside
	Dreyfuss	Cone with ice cream, lollipop, cup with straw, and sandwich
	Aicher & Krampen	Cone with two balls of ice cream
	ZRH 1978	Side view of glass of beer with excess foam
	FMTK 1986	Side view of wine glass
	Aicher & Krampen	Side view of part of cup on saucer, egg cup with egg
	Designlab A/S	Side view of glass with excess foam, cup on saucer
	Chamonix	Side view of stemware glass and cup with elements indicating fume/heat
	O'68	Side view of cup, four vertical wavy lines above indicating fume/heat
	U.S. National Park Service	Side view of cup, three vertical wavy lines above indicating fume/heat
	ZRH 1978	Side view of cup and saucer, S like shape in outline above indicating fume/heat
	Ecuador	Side view of cup and saucer, two vertical wavy lines above
	AIGA	Side view of cup and saucer
	Eco-Mo Foundation	Side view of cup and saucer
	UIC 413	Side view of cup and saucer
	UN 1968	Side view of cup and saucer
	BTA 1989	Side view of cup

Discussion

The collection shown above is only a small selection of the wide variety of pictograms used all over the world for the overlapping messages Refreshments, Buffet, Bistro, Snacks, Coffee Shop, Café. More examples for Coffee Bar, Café, and Tee Room are shown on our page for the more specific referent Coffee Shop.

Using the Production Method Gehringer (1979) explored which mental images or visual stereotypes exist concerning the message Buffet. 24 % of the responses showed food like sausages or sandwiches. Almost as often a table with cutlery was presented (20 %). Next were variants of coffee cups (17 %) followed by glasses and bottles (15 %). Responses indicate that there is no dominating visual stereotype with a clear distinction from the message Restaurant.

Brugger (1982) inspected 53 variants for the message Buffet using an Appropriateness Ranking Test. To ensure reliable responses, the pictograms were split into two independent sets. Results show some clear tendencies:

Combinations of food with a drink were seen as more appropriate than food or drink alone
Representation of food was rated as more relevant than showing some kind of drink
Variants showing a cup and saucer or a coup alone were ranked as least appropriate, but of these the variants also displaying fume in some way were preferred
Representations of sausages were preferred to burgers (note: the test was conducted in Austria in 1982)

In a follow up Comprehension Test conducted in Austria (Brugger, 1983) the three pictograms marked with 1) to 3) were examined: For all variants about 90 % of the responses were related to food of some kind, between 46 % (3)) and 72 % (1)) with snacks, snack bar, and sausage/hot dog stand. While the variant showing also a beer glass (2)) elicited more responses like restaurant, answers for variant 3) with a side view of a coffee cup more often were related to coffee shop and breakfast.

In a Matching Test with a set of 29 symbols (Zwaga & Boersema, 1983) the variant from the Dutch Railways, an older version showing cup and saucer reached 33 % correct responses only. Symmetrical confusions of the two referents Buffet and Restaurant happened quite frequently and the restaurant symbol was selected more often than the buffet symbol.

All the studies mentioned above show that there is a significant semantic overlap between the messages Restaurant, Pub, Refreshments, Buffet, Bistro, Snacks, Coffee Shop, and Café, as they all offer some kind of food service and therefore a clear distinction between all these services is almost impossible. In addition to these problems, many snacks are typical for specific regions only. As it is impossible 'to describe the specific menus of various eating places' on basis of symbols, the AIGA Symbol Signs Committee proposed to use two symbols only 'reflecting opposite ends of the price scale' (AIGA, 1993).

Recommendations

We suggest to conduct further studies to identify wether a differentiation for some specific messages is possible. Only on such a basis a clear decision concerning recommendations for individual messages can be reached.

Following the recommendations of ISO and AIGA as well as the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals we also recommend the use of a pictogram like PI CF 002 of ISO 7001 at the moment.

Tests of pictograms of referent Refreshments, Buffet, Bistro, Coffee Shop

Brugger, Ch. (1982): Reihungstest für die Begriffe Bibliothek, Buffet, Kindergarten, Kinderskischule. Report to the Austrian Standards Institute (ON) dated 12/82, Vienna.

Brugger, Ch. (1983): Abschlußbericht über den Verständnistest. Report to the Austrian Standards Institute (ON) dated May 1983, Vienna.

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.

Fiori, S. R. (2008): Mapas para o turismo e a interatividade - proposta teórica e prática. Tese de Doutorado - Depto. de Geografia, FFLCH-USP.

Gehringer, J. (1979): Untersuchung über die zeichnerische Gestaltung von Pictogrammen in Abhängigkeit von einigen Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen, sowie Überprüfung einiger Bildzeichen auf ihre Erkennbarkeit. Dissertation, Psychology Department, University of Vienna.

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