Elevator

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Elevators, Lift

Category

Public Facilities, Public Services, Travel, Transport Facilities

Message / Function

To indicate the location of an elevator / lift

	Source	Description
	Icograda	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft showing figure and several push buttons in lift cage plus 'Up' arrow above and 'Down' arrow below cage
	ÖNORM A 3011	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft showing figure and several push buttons in lift cage plus 'Up' arrow above and 'Down' arrow below cage
	CNIS	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft showing figure and several push buttons in lift cage plus 'Up' arrow above and 'Down' arrow below cage
	Tern	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft showing figure and several push buttons in lift cage plus 'Up' arrow above and 'Down' arrow below cage
	ISO 7001	Two horizontal lines between two fat vertical lines, figure and several push buttons in lift cage, 'Up' arrow above and 'Down' arrow below cage
	PANYNJ	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft with human figure, push buttons, plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrows above the lift cage
	MTA	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft with human figure, push buttons, plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrows above the lift cage
	Icograda	Two arrows pointing up resp. down and forming lift cage, human figure pointing towards push buttons
	BS 8501	Elevator/lift cage with human figure and child and several push buttons in lift cage plus 'Up' arrow above and 'Down' arrow below cage
	Bolivia	Elevator/lift cage with two human figures and several push buttons in lift cage plus 'Up' arrow above and 'Down' arrow below cage
	HSSS	Elevator/lift cage with three differing human figures, one bending towards element in wall, plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrow above the lift cage
	Schlaich	Elevator/lift cage with human figures, push buttons, plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrow above the lift cage
	Schlaich	Elevator/lift cage with human figures, push buttons, plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrow above the lift cage
	D'source	Elevator/lift cage with human figures in lift shaft, 'Up' and 'Down' arrow above the lift cage
	Frankfurt 1978	Elevator/lift cage with three human figures in lift shaft, 'Up' and 'Down' arrow above the lift cage
	Zurich Airport	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft showing woman, man, and child
	Swiss Post	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft showing man and woman, 'Up' arrow above and 'Down' arrow below cage
	BTA 1989	Cage in lift shaft with human figure, triangles indicating 'Up' and 'Down'
	Schiphol	Cage in lift shaft with human figure plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrows on the right
	Canada 1988	Elevator/lift cage with three human figures plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrow above the lift cage
	EJP	Elevator/lift cage with three figures plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrow above the lift cage
	Eco-Mo Foundation	Elevator/lift cage with three figures plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrow above the lift cage
	AIGA	Elevator/lift cage with three figures plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrow above the lift cage
	AIGA / DOT	Elevator/lift cage with three figures plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrow above the lift cage
	Pierce	Elevator/lift cage with three figures plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrow above the lift cage
	Museu Blau	Elevator/lift cage with three figures in outline plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrow above the lift cage
	Icograda	Elevator/lift cage with three figures, one in negative, plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrow above the lift cage
	D/FW	Elevator/lift cage showing woman and man, 'Up' and 'Down' arrows attached
	Picto'grafics	Elevator/lift cage showing man and woman, 'Up' and 'Down' arrows attached
	ATA	Elevator/lift cage showing man and woman, 'Up' and 'Down' arrows attached
	Transport for London	Elevator/lift cage showing grown up and child, triangles indicating 'Up' and 'Down'
	S/TA	Elevator/lift cage with human figure, 'Up' arrow above and 'Down' arrow below cage
	Dreyfuss	Kinked arrows, one pointing down, one up, shafts form lift cage, woman and man inside
	Icograda	Two elevator/lift cages next to each other at different height with one figure inside each cage plus 'Down' arrow below left cage and 'Up' arrow above right cage
	Icograda	Partial view of two elevator/lift cages next to each other at different height with one figure inside each cage plus 'Down' arrow above left cage and 'Up' arrow below right cage
	DB	Elevator/lift cage with human figure plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrow right of lift cage
	ÖBB 2007	Top of elevator/lift cage with human figure plus 'Up' and 'Down' arrow right of lift cage
	Icograda	Top of elevator/lift cage with human figure, on the right triangles pointing up and down, buttons between
	ICAO	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft showing woman and man, direction buttons right of lift cage
	TC	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft showing man and woman, direction buttons right of lift cage
	O'72	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft showing man and woman
	Kapitzki	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft showing man and woman
	ADV	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft showing man and woman
	BAA	Elevator/lift cage in lift shaft showing woman, man, and child
	ADCA	Lift shaft showing combined 'Up' and 'Down' arrow
	BTA 1989	'Up' and 'Down' arrow inside outline rectangle
	Sargfabrik, Wien	'Up' and 'Down' arrows between two horizontal lines
	IATA	'Up' and 'Down' arrow passing through dashed horizontal line
	Handbuch wien.gv.at	Elevator doors on horizontal line, 'Up' and 'Down' arrow
	ULOU	Two dots inside rectangle, elevator doors, 'Up' and 'Down' arrow
	Icograda	Elevator doors, two buttons with triangles pointing up and down
	Otth	Elevator doors, shown as rectangle split in two halves vertically, two triangles, one pointing up and one down
	Hungary 1979	Elevator doors with windows
	Icograda	Two disks with triangles pointing up and down

Discussion

The collection shown above is only a small selection of the wide variety of pictograms used all over the world to indicate the location of an elevator/lift.

Studies regarding different cultural backgrounds conducted in many countries present research covering a cross section of the pictogram variants in use for this referent:

Using the Production Method Gehringer (1979) explored which mental images or visual stereotypes exist concerning the message Elevator. 30 % of the responses showed an elevator cage with one or more human figures. Almost as often an elevator cage with 'Up' and 'Down' arrows was presented (21 %). While 5 % produced other images that could have been understood, 44 % of the respondents produced either nothing or images that could not be used to derive any hints or ideas. Responses indicate that no single and clear visual stereotype existed at the time of testing. This is also reflected by the variety of designs presented in the table above.

The results of the Appropriateness Ranking Tests conducted in the context of the Icograda student project (Frascara) and the ISO test series 1979/80 (Easterby & Graydon, 1981 a) for more than 30 pictogram variants of the referent Elevator, and Comprehension Tests in several countries (Easterby & Graydon 1981 b), reveal that most concepts displayed above are not well understood:

Symbols including standard representations for man and woman as they are used for toilets without any modifications are in danger of being misinterpreted as symbols for toilet (one of the primary misinterpretations, as also detailed in Schlaich & Meier-Walter, 2019).
Large size arrows, used to indicate the direction of movement of the cabin, frequently are misinterpreted as directional arrows within a guidance system.
Abstract variants such as the concepts applied by the Australian Department of Civil Aviation (ADCA) or the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and elevator doors as shown in the symbol labeled Hungary 1979 are rated as incomprehensible.

Based on these findings and the results of Freedman (1981) and Mackett-Stout & Dewar (1981) pictogram No 78 of the Austrian Standard ÖNORM A 3011 was developed to eliminate all weak points: The bearing of the person displayed is completely different than in any toilet symbol. The vertical layout of the push buttons with the person selecting one of them supports associations with elevator. The presentation of the cabin within a shaft, as already shown in the pictogram of the Munich Olympics 1972 and even before e.g. in the ADV variant, and especially in the most comprehensible Icograda variant at the top of the table above, enhances the definition. The size of the arrows and their placement indicate directions of cabin movement without giving rise to misinterpretations. The effectiveness of this design was confirmed in a another study by Brugger (2000), where this variant reached 96 % correct responses when tested on comprehensibility according to the ISO testing procedure.

In a Japanese study to propose domestically unified graphical symbols based on scientific methods, the pictogram variant labeled as Eco-Mo Foundation proved to be well comprehensible with a comprehension score of 92.3 (Eco-Mo Foundation, 2001), better than reported by Mackett-Stout & Dewar (1981) for the DOT'74 variant and Brugger (2000) for the AIGA symbol. In a study of way-finding symbols for healthcare facilities conducted in the United Arab Emirates (Hashim et al., 2014), the AIGA pictogram was not well understood with a score of 51 % correct among mostly young and well educated respondents. With about 78 % correct responses among Chinese respondents a symbol of the Chinese standard GB/T 10001.1-2012, Public Information Graphical Symbols, labeled CNIS in the table above, performed less well than similar variants tested before (An & Chan, 2017). This could be due to the thickness of the lift shaft and space between shaft and cage.

Recommendation

ÖNORM A 3011 No. 78 Elevator

Based on the test results known, we recommend the use of a pictogram like No 78 of the Austrian Standard ÖNORM A 3011 part 4 shown above to indicate the location of an elevator / lift.

Furthermore we suggest to research the effect of shaft thickness, space between shaft and cage, as well as positioning of arrows (ÖNORM vs PANYNJ), based on systematic variations of these parameters to identify the best possible solution.

Tests of pictograms of referent Elevator

An, D. & Chan, E.H.W. (2017): Investigating the Comprehension of Public Symbols for Wayfinding in Transit Hubs in China. In: Rau, PL. (eds) Cross-Cultural Design. CCD 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10281. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57931-3_24

Brugger: Ch. (2000): Verständlichkeitstest ON 2000. Report to the Austrian Standards Institute (ON) dated November 2000, Vienna.

Easterby, R.S. & Graydon, I.R. (1981 a): Evaluation of Public Information Symbols: ISO Test: 1979/80 Series. Part I: Appropriateness Ranking Tests. AP Report 99, Applied Psychology Department, University of Aston in Birmingham, January 1981.

Easterby, R.S. & Graydon, I.R. (1981 b): Evaluation of Public Information Symbols: ISO 1979/80 Test Series. Part II: Comprehension/Recognition Tests. AP Report 100, Applied Psychology Department, University of Aston in Birmingham, January 1981.

Eco-Mo Foundation (2001): Test data of public information symbols in Japan - Procedure for the testing of public information symbols by the Study Committee. ISO: ISO/TC 145/SC 1 N 329.

Gehringer, J. (1979): Untersuchung über die zeichnerische Gestaltung von Pictogrammen in Abhängigkeit von einigen Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen, sowie Überprüfung einiger Bildzeichen auf ihre Erkennbarkeit. Dissertation, Psychology Department, University of Vienna.

Hashim, M. J., Alkaabi, M. S., & Bharwani, S. (2014): Interpretation of way-finding healthcare symbols by a multicultural population: navigation signage design for global health. Applied ergonomics, 45(3), 503–509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2013.07.002

Mackett-Stout, J. & Dewar, R.L. (1981): Evaluation of Public Information Signs. Human Factors, 1981, 23, 139-151.

Schlaich, S. & Meier-Walter, A. (2019): The evolution of the elevator pictogram. Information Design Journal 25(1), 87–100.