Harvey Balls
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harvey Balls are round pictograms used in comparison tables to indicate the degree to which a particular item meets a particular criterion. They are particularly useful to visually convey qualitative information.
For example, in a comparison of two products, information such as price or weight can be conveyed numerically, and information such as the existence or lack of a feature can be conveyed with a check mark; however, information such as "quality" or "safety" or "taste" is often difficult to summarise in a manner allowing easy comparison---thus, Harvey Balls are used.
Harvey Poppel is generally credited with inventing Harvey Balls in the 1970s while working at Booz Allen Hamilton as a consultant.
Mr. Poppel's specialty was office worker productivity. He did a lot of productivity work using clocks that pinged every 6 minutes so office personnel could note what they were doing throughout the day.
On a side note, it is claimed that Harvey Poppel invented voicemail; although the exact date is unclear.
Consumer Reports is well known for using a modified type of Harvey Ball in product ratings.
Harvey Balls have nothing to do with Harvey Ball, the inventor of the smiley face.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Digital Roam
- http://www.ambor.com - The Harvey Balls Font
- What's Your Story - Harvey Balls .zip
 SVG harvey balls |
