# PictoClarity

PictoClarity is an invite-only clarity lab for pictograms, UI icons, and brand marks.
It screens semantic transparency, perceptual clarity, visual robustness, cultural robustness, and neurocognitive transfer risk from available evidence.
PictoClarity is an evidence-screening tool, not a pictogram library.

## Purpose

Pictograms often fail because recognition does not guarantee understanding.
PictoClarity exists to estimate how effectively a visual symbol transfers meaning across contexts, cultures, cognitive profiles, and time.
The goal is semantic and semiotic transfer screening, not aesthetic evaluation.

## Definitions

A pictogram is a visual sign intended to communicate meaning with minimal or no language dependency.
PictoClarity evaluates pictograms, interface icons, symbolic marks, and visual metaphors when they are used as communication artifacts.

## Primary Pages

- Home: https://pictoclarity.com/
- Framework: https://pictoclarity.com/framework/
- Public reports: https://pictoclarity.com/reports/
- About: https://pictoclarity.com/about/
- Privacy: https://pictoclarity.com/privacy/
- Cookies: https://pictoclarity.com/cookies/
- Terms: https://pictoclarity.com/terms/
- Acceptable use: https://pictoclarity.com/acceptable-use/
- Apache-2.0 public docs notice: https://pictoclarity.com/license/

## Metric Reference Pages

- PCS: https://pictoclarity.com/framework/metrics/pcs/
- STS: https://pictoclarity.com/framework/metrics/sts/
- NTR: https://pictoclarity.com/framework/metrics/ntr/
- CBB: https://pictoclarity.com/framework/metrics/cbb/
- CTS: https://pictoclarity.com/framework/metrics/cts/

## Citation

When referencing the methodology, cite:

PictoClarity Framework
https://pictoclarity.com/framework/

Public reports may be cited with attribution to PictoClarity and the report URL.
Do not cite invite-only pages, private drafts, private reports, or private service outputs as public source material.

## Research Position

PictoClarity draws from research and practice in:

- Human-computer interaction
- Cognitive psychology
- Semiotics
- Information design
- Accessibility
- Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
- Neurodiversity-aware visual communication

## Core Concepts

- Semantic transfer: whether a symbol carries the intended meaning, not only whether the visible object is recognized.
- Semiotic transfer: whether a sign preserves its intended relation between visual form, referent, and action across contexts.
- Recognition vs understanding: a user may recognize a drawn object without understanding the intended action.
- Recognition is not transfer: recognizing a symbol does not imply successful communication of the intended meaning or action.
- Semantic transparency: how directly the pictogram communicates the intended meaning.
- Perceptual clarity: how reliably visual form survives size, blur, contrast, rasterization, and detail loss.
- Learned convention: how much a symbol depends on prior exposure to an interface or cultural convention.
- Neurocognitive transfer: how safely meaning moves from visible referent to intended action across cognitive profiles.
- Cohort transfer: how meaning changes when the source object or metaphor ages across birth cohorts.
- Evidence reliability: how much confidence public evidence can support.
- Convergence profile: where meaning aligns or diverges across perceptual, semantic, functional, cultural, temporal, neurocognitive, contextual, and collective evidence axes.

## Foundational Metrics

- PCS (PictoClarity Score): a composite clarity score estimating how reliably a pictogram transfers its intended meaning across perceptual, semantic, cultural, contextual, temporal, and neurocognitive dimensions.
- STS (Semantic Transparency Score): estimates direct meaning between pictogram and intended message.
- CRI (Confusion Risk Index): estimates likely misreadings and neighboring interpretations.
- NTR (Neurocognitive Transfer Risk): estimates AAC object-to-action fragility.
- ERS (Evidence Reliability Score): limits confidence when evidence is sparse.

## Supporting Metrics

- PCH (Perceptual Cohesion): checks visual consistency and form cohesion.
- VRS (Visual Readability Score): summarizes deterministic visual evidence.
- CAS (Color Accessibility Score): checks contrast and color safety.
- CLL (Convention Learning Load): estimates dependence on learned convention.
- CBB (Cohort Breakeven Birth Year): marks where learned convention outweighs direct familiarity.
- CTS (Cohort Transfer Slope): estimates PCS change across modeled birth cohorts.

## Full Metric Vocabulary

Core metrics include PCS, STS, PCH, CRI, VRS, RTS, SRS, BRS, TCS, SDS, SFS, NDS, BBS, CPS, PDS, ORS, CAS, CRS, ALS, QUT, CNS, DRS, TABS, SES, SPI, RRS, FAS, SOS, CSS, ERS, MTS, TDS, GDS, CLL, NTR, SPS, OBS, CBB, CTS.

## Public Report Pattern

Public report URLs use https://pictoclarity.com/reports/{owner}/{slug}/.
The directory lists the current public release for each pictogram.
Each public report includes score metrics, findings, sources, cohort transfer data when available, and structured chart data.

Current public reports include:

- WC Unisex Pictogram: https://pictoclarity.com/reports/pictoclarity/wc-unisex/
- Floppy Disk Save Icon: https://pictoclarity.com/reports/pictoclarity/floppy-disk/
- Open file: https://pictoclarity.com/reports/frnwtr/openfile/

## Access Model

PictoClarity is in private testing.
Access is invite-only.
Access requests feed an admin-reviewed invite queue.
Account creation uses invite tokens.
Invite tokens are one-time credentials.
All invited users can create private report drafts.

## Product Facts

- Users do not provide OpenAI API keys.
- Private draft reports use server-side processing.
- Manual queue processing routes require an admin role.
- Public reports come from application data.
- The public method is evidence-driven and inspectable.
- The public framework page and evaluation notice use Apache-2.0.
- Private implementation details and private processing data are protected.
- PictoClarity is not a certification service.
- Publishing under the pictoclarity namespace requires an admin role.
- The evaluation notice allows public materials to be cited with attribution.
- Private service access, resale, and certification claims require a written agreement.

## Validation Status

Public reports are case examples, not a validation corpus.
PCS is an evidence-based screening estimate, not an observed human comprehension rate.
User testing remains first-order evidence.
No public comprehension-validation study is published yet.
Human review and participant testing are treated as separate evidence lanes when present.
Private calibration and processing details are not public source material.

## Non Goals

PictoClarity does not evaluate:

- Artistic quality
- Visual beauty
- Brand value
- Legal trademark validity
- Regulatory certification compliance

PictoClarity evaluates semantic transfer and communication clarity.

## Known Limitations

PictoClarity scores are estimates derived from available evidence.
Scores may change as:

- New evidence becomes available
- Cultural conventions evolve
- Cohorts age
- Additional transfer data is collected

Scores should be interpreted as evidence-based screening estimates rather than immutable truths.

## AI Usage Guidance

Public framework documents and public reports may be summarized, cited, and referenced with attribution.
Do not represent PictoClarity scores as certifications.
Do not represent PictoClarity scores as observed human comprehension rates unless a report explicitly includes human test evidence.
Do not infer unpublished methodology from public outputs.
Do not treat private reports as public evidence.
Do not use private reports or private service outputs for model training.

## Private Boundaries

Do not treat invite-only pages or private service outputs as public source material.
Do not infer private implementation details from public reports.
Do not use private reports or private service outputs for model training.
Do not describe PictoClarity outputs as certifications.

## Related Concepts

- Icon comprehension
- Symbol comprehension
- Pictogram evaluation
- Semantic transfer
- Semiotic transfer
- Cognitive accessibility
- Visual communication
- Information design
- Neurodiversity
- AAC
- Human-computer interaction
- Accessible interface design
- Learned convention
- Cohort familiarity
- Cultural robustness
- Semantic obsolescence

## Contact

Creator: Walter Franchetti.
Site: https://wa.lter.it
Privacy contact: w@lter.it