Elevator control panels

by John J. BARTHOLDI III

Designers of user interfaces: The elevator industry needs you! Behold the evidence.

Panel layout

As an untrained user of elevators, it seems to me that you want three basic things from an elevator control panel:

Tell me what my choices are.

Allow me to signal my choice.

Confirm my choice by some feedback so I will not fret.

Is that so hard?

Here is what I have learned:

Yes, apparently that is too hard.

Hospitals are a rich source of bad design.

There is a world of opinions about how floors below ground should be labeled

Most users just want to select a floor, but it is common to litter the panel with various special purpose and little-used buttons.

No one can recognize the standard open-door icon quickly enough to prevent the door from shutting in the face of a would-be passenger. And the button might not be connected anyway!

The best panels are simple and obvious. It is even better when the layout of the buttons reveals the layout of the building.

A note on terminology: The basic element of style here seems to be a “button”. Some buttons are switches and some are just tags; but for our purposes they are all “buttons”.

Click on any image to enlarge it.

Worst panel in the world? Location South parking deck of Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta, GA (USA) General comments A masterpiece of bad design. Most remarkably, each floor is associated with no fewer than four separate buttons, each of which provides just one of the essential functions. From left to right: The label, painted in a color to be associated with the floor and giving the name of the color in both English and Braille

An inactive button colored to match the floor - but with the color missing for the brown, white, tan, and (possibly) black buttons These first two buttons do nothing but identify the choices of floor. Furthermore, it appears that the worded labels were added later, perhaps after it was realized that people might not be able to distinguish some colors or remember them or give accurate directions to others (was that tan or mocha or ecru?)

A white button that actually transmits your choice to the elevator mechanism;

A small strip of light that confirms your choice (you can see this glowing above the white button for the orange floor). The column of white buttons on the far right are inactive. Among the active buttons, the floor levels increase diagonally upward, alternating to the right and left. Door open/close At the very bottom are the open door, alarm bell, and close door buttons identified by icons. Above the alarm bell is a button labelled “hold door open” — is this different from the “open” door button? Floors below ground This design gives no clue as to the outside world. Simple and clear Location Elevator to parking decks of the Temasek Tower, Singapore. General comments A nicely designed panel. It is simple and obvious. The layout of the buttons suggest the relationship of the floors to each other. The open/close-door buttons are separated from the choose-floor buttons so they are easy to find. The rarely-used buttons for elevator administration have been hidden. Door open/close The open/close-door buttons improve on the standard icon by showing TWO vertical lines to represent two doors. Furthermore, these icons provide additional visual distinctions in that the distance between the vertical lines is different in the two and they are in different colors. Floors below ground B1 is the first below ground. Presumably deeper floors would be B2, B3, and so on.

Left-to-right, then up Location Near the central library at the National University of Singapore General comments These buttons increase first to the right and then up (compare with Fraser Suites). The layout is primarily horizontal even though all travel is vertical. Door open/close Standard icons but the placement, with Door Open on the right, is reversed from standard. Floors below ground Not applicable Right-to-left, then up Location Holiday Inn, Monterrey, Mexico General comments It is unusual to find floor numbers increasing from right to left. Least-used buttons are at the top. Door open/close Door-close is located more conveniently than the more urgent door-open button. Floors below ground Not applicable

Up, then left-to-right Location Fraser Suites, Singapore General comments The floor levels increase first up and then to the right. I was constantly fooled by the fact that the button for floor 16 is at the very bottom, well below that for floor 5. Door open/close Standard icons but distinguished by color to help cue the user Floors below ground Not applicable Only left-to-right Location Upscale hotel in Reykjavik, Iceland> General comments Nice buttons, but they increase in a single row from left to right, suggesting horizontal travel. Door open/close Perhaps the two buttons on the upper left? Floors below ground Not sure: What does “K” signify?