Exploring the effect of literacy on signs in GUI design

This paper contributes to the understanding of graphical user interfaces for illiterate users. It looks at text-free user interface elements for software applications from a semiotic perspective. A field test was conducted (N=40) with literate and illiterate participants of both genders in Egypt to evaluate the preferences and performance with different types of graphical representations. The participants were shown five groups of different signs, each group contained one index, one icon and one symbol to identify meanings and create stories with their preferred signs. The signs were associated with common user interface elements and with objects that the participants observed in their daily life. The results show superior performance of literates regarding sign interpretation and the use of working memory. No significant differences were found regarding the preferences of icons, indexes or symbols between literates and illiterates.