[ Framework Metric ]
CBB: Cohort Breakeven Birth Year.
A birth-cohort marker for when learned convention overtakes direct object familiarity.
Definition
CBB marks the modeled birth cohort where learned convention meets or exceeds direct familiarity with the source object.
Core Idea
Recognition is not transfer.
Recognizing a symbol does not imply successful communication of the intended meaning or action.
[ How To Read It ]
What The Metric Measures.
The reading applies to the submitted pictogram, expected message, user group, and evidence window.
Where a symbol shifts from object familiarity to convention learning.
How temporal exposure changes meaning transfer.
Which cohorts are more likely to need labels, context, or alternate symbols.
High Reading
A later CBB suggests direct object familiarity persists for more cohorts.
Low Reading
An earlier CBB suggests the symbol depends on learned convention for many users.
[ Limits ]
What It Does Not Claim.
CBB is a modeled estimate, not a demographic claim.
CBB depends on the evidence window and evaluation date.
CBB is meaningful only when a source object or metaphor has cohort-sensitive familiarity.
[ Examples ]
How It Appears In Reports.
A floppy disk save icon has a cohort breakeven because physical disk exposure differs strongly by birth cohort.
A universal geometric arrow may not need a meaningful CBB when no obsolete source object drives the metaphor.
[ Related Metrics ]