Facts and data on pictograms
Synonyms / Other Terms Used
Cardiologist, Cardiovascular Medicine, Cardiology and Vascular Medicine Department
Category
Public Services, Public Facilities, Health Care
Message / Function
To indicate the location of a clinical facility that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system
| Source | Description | |
|---|---|---|
 |
Health Icons | Heart in outline with several blood vessels indicated |
 |
Dreyfuss | Heart in outline with several blood vessels indicated |
 A) |
SEGD/HJ | Heart symbol with jagged line indicating ECG |
 B) |
CNIS | Heart symbol with jagged line indicating very simplified ECG |
 |
SDA 1999 | Frontal view of upper part of human figure in outline, heart with several blood vessels indicated |
 |
SDA 1999 | Frontal view of upper part of human figure in outline, heart with several blood vessels indicated |
 |
D'source | Frontal view of upper part of human figure, heart with several blood vessels indicated |
 C) |
CNIS | Frontal view of upper part of human figure, heart with several blood vessels indicated, stethoscope in top left corner |
 D) |
CNIS | Frontal view of upper part of human figure, heart with several blood vessels indicated, surgical clamp and scalpel in top left corner |
 |
NSD 1996 | Upper part of human figure, heart symbol partially superimposed |
 |
alleBHP | Frontal view of upper part of human figure, heart indicated |
 |
Dumbar-WH | Frontal view of standing human figure with heart symbol on chest |
 |
Spring Signs | Frontal view of standing human figure behind rectangle with heart symbol and two lines |
Discussion
As there are several specific clinical facilities that deal with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system, pictograms relating to several departments can be found. These cover general referents like Cardiology or Cardio-vascular Medicine, but also very specific departments or functions like Electrocardiogram (ECG), Echocardiography/Cardiac Ultrasound, Interventional Cardiology, or Cardiac Surgery. Images found show quite some variation, ranging from renderings of the human heart with several blood vessels to human figures in combination with a heart symbol, but all show a heart in some way.
In our research we discovered that there is only very limited test data available for the referent Cardiology and related subjects, as all studies found are covering a few symbols only:
Using the ISO/ANSI Open-ended Comprehension Test, Zender & Cassedy (2014) examined the SEGD/HJ pictogram variant marked A) above, showing a heart symbol with a jagged line indicating ECG, to find out if this variant is understood just as well in a different culture, and if not, why it does not work. While test results from the United States indicate excellent comprehensibility, as 94 % resp. 100 % of the answers given were judged as correct in the two U.S. samples, results from Tanzania reveal that this pictogram was correctly understood primarily by local respondents with advanced medical literacy, where 75 % of the responses of this sample could be classified as correct. Among the typical local patients in the Tanzanian sample just 55 % of the respondents answered correctly, indicating lack of medical knowledge in this group.
A research project comparing comprehensibility of healthcare symbols between the United States, South Korea, and Turkey also included this SEGD / Hablamos Juntos Design for Cardiology (Lee et al., 2014). In contrast to the results described before, only 35 % of the answers of the U.S. American respondents were classified as correct, 43 % in the South Korean sample, but 77 % in Turkish sample. According to the authors "many American and Korean respondents identified the cardiology symbol as heart monitor, EKG, or defibrillator. They may have thought that it meant a place where they could use those equipments". Applying identical response classification maybe could have led to comparable results. Matching Test results from the same study signal far more correct assignments of this symbol to the intended department in each country: 93 % of the participants in the U.S., 100 % in Turkey, and 90 % in South Korea responded correctly.
In a further study of way-finding symbols for healthcare facilities conducted in the United Arab Emirates, 84 % of the responses for this pictogram were classified as correct in a Comprehension Test carried out with a sample consisting mostly of young and well educated respondents (Hashim et al., 2014).
Deng et al. (2025) studied the comprehensibility of pictograms from the Chinese standard GB/T 10001.6-2006 Public Information Graphical Symbols for Use on Signs, Part 6: Symbols for Medical Treatment and Health Care to identify effects of age and cognitive features. The three pictograms labeled CNIS and marked B) to D) above also were among the pictograms examined. The symbol for Electrocardiogram Room, marked as B), performed best in the Comprehension Test conducted, with a total correct rate of 80 %, and 83 % among the younger respondents compared to 76 % for the senior respondents. The variant representing Cardiology and Vascular Medicine Department, marked as C), reached 67 % (young) and 56 % (old), and for the pictogram for Cardiovascular Surgery Department, marked as D), a correct rate of 69 % (young) and 50 % (old) was calculated. It has to be questioned whether a differentiation between all medical specializations regarding the field of cardiology will be understood well enough by people requiring hospital services.
Recommendations
Due to the fact that the collection available and also data from research seem to be insufficient, we recommend improving designs, followed by testing using the Comprehensibility Estimation procedure for eliminating poor variants and identifying the best of the set available, followed by a Comprehension Test. These studies should deliver useful data for recommending the best pictogram. Detailed information about the most frequent responses given in each of the response categories of the Comprehension Test should be provided to correctly judge comprehensibility and improve designs. Also information concerning knowledge about this medical specialization should be collected at the end of the test, as studies suggest that many terms used for healthcare facilities are often not understood well by people visiting hospitals or related institutions.
Tests of pictograms of referent Cardiology
Hashim, M. J., Alkaabi, M. S., & Bharwani, S. (2014): Interpretation of way-finding healthcare symbols by a multicultural population: navigation signage design for global health. Applied ergonomics, 45(3), 503–509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2013.07.002.
Lee, S., Dazkir, S. S., Paik, H. S., & Coskun, A. (2014). Comprehensibility of universal healthcare symbols for wayfinding in healthcare facilities. Applied Ergonomics, 45(4), 878-885. doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2013.11.003
Zender, M., & Cassedy, A.E. (2014): (Mis)understanding: Icon Comprehension in Different Cultural Contexts. Visible Language, 48, 69.
See also
Hospital, Doctor, Health Care Center, Pharmacy
Updated 2025-11-30 by Christoph Brugger