Analyzing elevator controls using Nielsen-Norman’s usability heuristics

What is the primary function of an elevator?

To haul people up and down to their respective floors.

Simple enough? Let’s find out.

We as humans, with advanced cognition and unmatched intelligence (modest much?) have designed and built various objects — from a ball-point pen to the Burj Khalifa. We even built elevators in buildings like Burj Khalifa that are the fastest, most spacious, most sophisticated and what not. Apparently, the area where we don’t shine as much is designing elevator controls. How many times have we pressed the ‘Up’ button instead of the ‘Down’ button and vice-versa while calling an elevator?

Imagine this scenario:
You are on the 1st floor of a building, and you want to go to the 10th floor. Elevator is on the 5th floor. Do you press the “up” button because you want to go up? Or do you press the “down” button because you want the elevator to come down to you?

How many of us have pressed both the buttons, you know, to be safe and just so that you can’t go wrong?!

For the longest time I thought I was the only one who faced this problem. Naturally, I found it extremely embarrassing to admit that I found it rather confusing to use elevator buttons. I thought I was borderline dyslexic. This seemingly simple user interface may mean different things to different people. Little did I know that the problem is not with me, it is with the system and its design.

In the book “Design of Everyday things” by Don Norman, Norman talks about how it is not the user’s responsibility to know how to use a product; it is the designer’s responsibility to ensure that the learnability of the product is so superior, that it is obvious how to use it, even without a manual.

What’s more bizarre is, the upward or downward buttons have no actual meaning in which direction you wish to travel. You could press the up button and still enter the lift to go downward. Is it even necessary to have two buttons? Can we have just one call button to tell the elevator to arrive at the floor you are in?

My personal favorite elevator call button example:

Which arrow corresponds to which button? Guesses anyone? (Hint: There is no right answer!)

Let’s consider some interesting elevator controls with reference to Nielsen-Norman’s Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design. One of the pioneers who tried to objectively evaluate user experience on digital platforms is Jakob Nielsen, with his heuristic evaluation. Though they date back to the 90s, these general rules of thumb are still valid and are used today:

Visibility of system status

The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.

This is the elevator in my apartment, which looks and moves like it was built in the 1700s (“Was the elevator even invented in the 1700s?” No, elevators were invented in 1853. I’m going for over-the-top exaggeration here; in case it wasn’t clear.)

This elevator has no visibility whatsoever. Once you press the button, all you can do is say a silent prayer that the elevator arrives that very day.

Match between system and the real world

The system should speak the users’ language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.

I have so many questions. What is R? How can a floor number be a decimal? 4.6? Really?!

Consistency and standards

So, this is my biggest problem with elevator controls. You’d think something so ubiquitous would have a consistent universal design. If you did, you couldn’t be more wrong.

Each company that manufactures elevator buttons and controls have their own designs and layouts. They are only limited by their imagination!

Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.

All you math fanatics, please don’t say this is simple math, and that even a primary school kid could do it. That’s not the point of an elevator; and you’re definitely not contesting for “Are you smarter than a fifth grader?”!

Recognition rather than recall

Minimize the user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.

There is no way any one could use this elevator without being fully aware of what all the negative numbers mean. Also, where is ‘3’? Where is ‘-6’?

This elevator would be usable only to those who are familiar with this god-awful numbering system — possibly only the ones who use it every day.

Aesthetic and minimalist design

Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.

So, that’s my analysis of elevator controls. This was a fun exercise, which helped me learn in depth about Nielsen-Norman’s Usability Heuristics.

It also got me hooked to digging for awful examples of poorly-designed elevator controls in all corners of the internet. (I’m obsessed. Help!!)

If you’ve made it till here, yay! Let me know what you think of this article. If this bothers you as much as it bothers me, I’d love to know that, since it’ll reassure me that I’m not a weirdo.

References:

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/
https://in.pinterest.com/akajonep/bad-elevator-buttons/