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Re: NPR story on medicine labeling

Subject: Re: NPR story on medicine labeling
From: "Susan Hogarth" <hogarth -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 09:48:16 -0500

On 12/7/06, Sarah Bouchier <Sarah -dot- Bouchier -at- exony -dot- com> wrote:

>"Wolf's recent studies show that people often misinterpret the neon
>warning stickers that are placed on pill bottles by pharmacists. Some
of
>the more common ones, such as "Take With Food," or "Medication Should
Be
>Taken with Plenty of Water," are paired with images or icons that are
>confusing. The "For External Use Only" warning comes with a picture of
a
>person with lines radiating around the body. People misinterpret this
>image to mean the medication is radioactive."

Images are used as a 'universal' language; don't read English? Not a
problem, look at the picture. The problem is, it's very difficult to
create an unambiguous image; see
http://www.msxnet.org/humour/terror_alert for some more examples... :)

The thing is, if someone can read English, the instructions are so clear
the image is unnecessary. If someone +can't+ read English, a picture of
the Ready Brek boy* really isn't going to help.

Amen!!! I for one find the trend to iconization disturbing. Half the
time I can't figure out icons unless they are paired with words -
which, increasingly, they are not.

--
Susan Hogarth
http://www.colliething.com
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References:
NPR story on medicine labeling: From: Abby Klemmer
RE: NPR story on medicine labeling: From: Sarah Bouchier

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