I often wonder how is it that human factors engineers never considered standardizing the buttons within an elevator. An elevator is one of the most used transport mechanism next to an escalator in the world.

In the United States...
-There are an estimated 700,000 elevators and 35,000 escalators.
-Over 325 million riders take an elevator daily.
-Over 245 million riders take an escalator daily
-About 210 billion riders travel on elevators or escalators each year in the North America.
*Source: National Elevator Industry, Inc. Website (March 2007)

Yet, every elevator has a unique and often confusing way to display the buttons within the control panel.  I wonder if the Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation has ever looked into this? (Yes this organization actually exist.)

Is it some sick twisted joke to increase the anxiety and fear of individuals like my wife who already have Clautophobia or Claustrophobia? Try finding the "open door" button in a last second scramble when somebody starts running toward the elevator to join you. This happened to me the other day and I truly could not find the button in time. Now I am embarrassed every time I run into that person. He probably thinks I faked the effort so I could continue on my way without delay. (Not to say that I have not done this in the past.) To illustrate my point and the "Elevator Button Chaos Theory" I have included  some real-life examples of button arrangements I have found:

This elevator must go sideways? Oh and look there is a special button for handicap riders. I wonder what that does?

Just incase you can't read the numbers on the button this elevator has a great labelling system. I wonder how many people push the black label instead of the button every day?

 

At least some elevator engineers have figured out that if you put the label on the side you can conserve vertical space. By the way what does the "Star" next to the first floor indicate? Did you notice that it was on the third floor in the first picture? My guess is that it indicates the ground level or the floor where most of the action occurs. I am not sure but I have seen this indicated in the past by the G, L, M, or LL buttons. Anyways I think by now you are ready for the ultimate elevator button test. Look at the next elevator control panel below and answer the following questions as fast as you can. (Hint: this elevator has two doors one in the front and one in the rear.)

  1. What button do you push to get to the first floor?
  2. How many floors are there on this elevator?
  3. What does "L" stand for?
  4. What does "P" stand for?
  5. Where is button "4"?
  6. Which button opens the door?
  7. What is the difference between the alarm and the help button?
  8. How many people try to cancel a cell phone call by pushing the "Call Cancel" button?

Elevator Button Chaos Theory states that when designing a control panel for elevators never take into consideration what other engineers have done in the past. In this way, the human race can always evolve the elevator button console into something different but not significantly better in the future.

Tags: , , ,