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Engineering and Science Education

Customizable Icons

Customizable Icons for Participant Representation in Research

View of PDF for icon-use instructionsIcons are visual representations of participants used to remind readers of participants' humanity. The ability of research participants to design their icons for use in human-subjects research is important for reducing researcher bias in the representation of research participants and allowing participant agency in the research process. An open-source set of customizable icons, as well as a letter to participants with instructions on how to design them, is available for use by all researchers.

Available Icons and Instructions

The icons are designed for use with most word processing software and can be altered in dimensions without pixelation. Icons are provided as .svg files for use in word processing software (e.g., Microsoft Word/PowerPoint) or graphics software (e.g., Adobe Illustrator). For more information on these icons or their use, please contact Kelly Lazar or Evelyn Boyd.

  • Icon Design Participant Instructions
  • People - starting point for the icon representative
  • Hair - available styles range from short to long
  • Flair - accessories to add to a representative