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BS ISO IEC 24779 — Pictograms, Icons and Symbols for Use with Biometric Systems Series
Information technology — Cross-jurisdictional and societal aspects of implementation of biometric technologies — Pictograms, icons and symbols (2015/2016/2017 edition series)
🖼️ BS ISO/IEC 24779 is the British Standard series adopted by BSI from the ISO/IEC 24779 international standard, defining pictograms, icons, and symbols for use with biometric systems. Developed by ISO/IEC JTC 1 Subcommittee SC 37 (Biometrics), with UK participation through Technical Committee IST/44, biometric recognition systems (fingerprint, face, iris, vascular) are widely used in border control, identity authentication, and mobile device unlocking; their user interfaces need clear, intuitive, and cross-culturally consistent graphic symbols to guide users. This series, from a “cross-jurisdictional and societal” perspective, provides a standardized graphic language for biometric system interface design.
💡 Good symbol design significantly reduces users’ cognitive burden: in immigration inspection, security screening, and self-service terminals, standardized pictograms such as “place finger” and “look at camera” let users of different languages and cultural backgrounds quickly understand the operation steps.
1. Series Overview and Positioning 📌
This batch covers three parts of the BS ISO/IEC 24779 series: Part 1: General principles (2016 edition), Part 4: Fingerprint applications (2017 edition), and Part 9: Vascular applications (2015 edition). Part 1 establishes the overall framework and symbol design principles of the whole series; Parts 4 and 9 give specific symbols and icons for fingerprint recognition and vascular recognition applications respectively. The series targets the user interface design and deployment of biometric systems, accounting for cross-jurisdictional and socio-cultural differences.
ISO/IEC 24779 works with ISO/IEC 29794 (biometric sample quality) and ISO/IEC 19794 to form a complete standard system for biometric systems from data, to interface, to societal impact. The symbol standard focuses on “how users understand and use the system,” serving as the humanistic and societal complement to technical standards.
⚠️ Graphic symbols should not be confused with general safety/indicative symbols (such as ISO 7010 safety signs), and design should consider cultural differences and accessibility for color-vision-deficient users, ensuring universality and inclusiveness.
2. Series Structure and Part-Level Points 🔧
| Standard Number | Subject | Edition | Core Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| BS ISO/IEC 24779-1:2016 | General principles | 1st ed., 2016-04-15 | Defines symbol design principles, needs, and usage rules |
| BS ISO/IEC 24779-4:2017 | Fingerprint applications | 1st ed., 2017-01 | Defines symbols and icons for fingerprint recognition applications |
| BS ISO/IEC 24779-9:2015 | Vascular applications | 1st ed., 2015-11-01 | Defines symbols and icons for vascular (vein) recognition applications |
3. Part 1: General Principles Core Content 🔍
Part 1 establishes the overall needs and design principles for symbols in biometric systems, forming the foundation of the series. Content includes: needs and use scenarios of icons and symbols in biometric systems, cross-application and cross-jurisdictional considerations, terminology definitions, and conformance requirements. The specification emphasizes that symbols should have clear semantics, good recognizability, and cross-cultural acceptability, and gives basic criteria for symbol design and evaluation. Part 1 provides a unified framework and methodology for subsequent application-specific parts such as fingerprint and vascular.
In content organization, Part 1 starts from “needs and use,” explaining in which scenarios a biometric system needs graphic symbols and how to evaluate whether symbols are correctly understood by target users, providing actionable guidance for designers.
4. Part 4: Fingerprint Application Symbols 🖐️
Part 4 specifies individual symbols, icons, and pictograms for fingerprint recognition applications. Fingerprint recognition is one of the most widely used biometric technologies; from e-channel immigration self-service and fingerprint capture terminals to mobile fingerprint unlock, unified graphic prompts are needed to guide users to place their finger correctly, recognize capture status, and understand matching results. This part defines generic fingerprint symbols and various operation status icons (capture, comparison, success, failure, retry, etc.) and specifies their application rules.
💡 “Guidance” in fingerprint capture is critical: incorrect placement, improper force, and too dry/wet fingers all reduce capture quality. Standardized “place finger” symbols combined with text prompts significantly improve first-time capture success.
5. Part 9: Vascular Application Symbols 🩸
Part 9 specifies symbols and icons for vascular (vein) image recognition applications. Vascular recognition uses the vein patterns of fingers, palms, and other body parts for identity verification, offering advantages of liveness detection and resistance to forgery. This part defines generic symbols (vascular) and icons related to vascular image capture, helping users correctly place hands on finger-vein and palm-vein capture devices and understand the operation flow.
6. Application Practice and Design Recommendations 🛠️
- 📋 Interface design: the UI design of biometric terminals and applications should prioritize the standard symbols defined in 24779 to improve cross-cultural usability.
- 🔗 Multilingual scenarios: in immigration, airport, and government scenarios serving multilingual users, use graphic symbols to supplement or replace text, reducing language barriers.
- ♿ Accessibility design: consider users with color vision deficiency and low vision, ensuring sufficient contrast and clear outlines of symbols.
- 📊 Usability evaluation: conduct user testing before deploying symbols to verify the comprehension rate among target populations, and optimize continuously.
🚨 Though small, symbols matter greatly: an incorrect symbol may mislead users into wrong actions (e.g., interpreting “deny” as “allow”), which could have serious consequences in border and security scenarios. Design must be rigorously evaluated and validated.
7. Frequently Asked Questions ❓
❓ Q: Why is a dedicated biometric symbol standard needed?
A: Biometric systems have special operation flows (placing a finger, looking at a camera, scanning a vein) that generic graphic symbols cannot cover; standardized symbols ensure consistent understanding across cultures and scenarios.
A: Biometric systems have special operation flows (placing a finger, looking at a camera, scanning a vein) that generic graphic symbols cannot cover; standardized symbols ensure consistent understanding across cultures and scenarios.
❓ Q: Does the series cover all biometric modalities?
A: The series is organized by application part, currently covering fingerprint (Part 4) and vascular (Part 9); other modalities can be added by future parts.
A: The series is organized by application part, currently covering fingerprint (Part 4) and vascular (Part 9); other modalities can be added by future parts.
❓ Q: What is the difference from ISO 7010 safety signs?
A: ISO 7010 covers general safety warning signs; 24779 covers operation and status symbols of biometric systems. Their purposes differ and they should not be mixed.
A: ISO 7010 covers general safety warning signs; 24779 covers operation and status symbols of biometric systems. Their purposes differ and they should not be mixed.
❓ Q: Which users should symbol design consider?
A: It should cover users of different cultural backgrounds, languages, ages, and abilities (including color vision deficiency and low vision), balancing universality and accessibility.
A: It should cover users of different cultural backgrounds, languages, ages, and abilities (including color vision deficiency and low vision), balancing universality and accessibility.
🔍 Q: How do I verify symbol usability?
A: Measure recognition and comprehension rates through controlled user testing, iterate design based on feedback, and eventually reach the acceptable level required by the standard.
A: Measure recognition and comprehension rates through controlled user testing, iterate design based on feedback, and eventually reach the acceptable level required by the standard.