Comprehensibility and legibility of Warning Symbol among General Public and Parents; a Comparative Study

Comprehensibility and legibility of Warning Symbol among General Public and Parents; a Comparative Study * NEHA TRIPATHI, DR. SEEMA KWATRA ** Department of Family Resource Management, College of Home Science, G.B.P.U.A. & T. Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India-263145 ABSTRACT Safety and developmental appropriateness are of utmost importance for child care products. Consumer’s responses to warning are affected by perceived hazardousness which inturn is affected by effectiveness of explicit warning. For the experimental data, the study was purposively carried out at Pantnagar on a sample size of 70 i.e. 35 parents and 35 general public using estimation test and comprehension test. The test was conducted to evaluate the level of comprehensibility of warning symbol for five referents (suffocation, unattended, age, weight, height) with four variants of each referent. The use of symbols along with written text is must to enhance comprehensibility of warning signs. The results of estimation and comprehension test reveal that symbols with high level of comprehension for the referents suffocation (91%), unattended (89%), weight (80%), age (89%), and height (89%) meet the acceptance criteria for use as warning symbols as per parents score. Similarly as per general public scores the referents for suffocation (85%), unattended (85%), weight (91%), age (80%) and height (85%) were having high comprehensive scores. Lastly a guide and CD was developed on “Effective Product Information Guide for Parents And Product Designers” to generate awareness amongst parents and to guide product designers to make product information effective. Keywords: Child Care Products, Effectiveness, Warning Symbol, Comprehensibility.