Queensland Rail recently added New Generation Rolling Stock (trains) to it's South East Queensland passenger train network.
One design element of these new trains that I particularly like are the door open buttons.
The button is located in the centre of the door - a good location for natural mapping.
A simple pictogram shows the user what to do - press the button.
The button press is indicated by...
- the momentary lighting of a red light, giving FEEDBACK of the button being pressed.
- and by the turning on of a green light which stays on, indicating the STATUS of the button being in the 'pressed registered state'.
- when the door opens the green light flashes and a tone sounds to alert the user (ATTENTION).
One problem with the new trains is that the 'call for assistance' buttons are to the side of the doors, in the same place as the open door buttons on the previous generation trains that are still in use across the network. This results in an inattentive passenger accidentally pressing the 'call for help' button instead of the open door button. This happened to me once and I am sure that I am not the only person who has done it.
The use of natural mapping (putting controls where they make sense), use of pictograms instead of written instructions, and both visual and audible cues should be incorporated into our ModBox project.
One design element of these new trains that I particularly like are the door open buttons.
The button is located in the centre of the door - a good location for natural mapping.
A simple pictogram shows the user what to do - press the button.
The button press is indicated by...
- the momentary lighting of a red light, giving FEEDBACK of the button being pressed.
- and by the turning on of a green light which stays on, indicating the STATUS of the button being in the 'pressed registered state'.
- when the door opens the green light flashes and a tone sounds to alert the user (ATTENTION).
One problem with the new trains is that the 'call for assistance' buttons are to the side of the doors, in the same place as the open door buttons on the previous generation trains that are still in use across the network. This results in an inattentive passenger accidentally pressing the 'call for help' button instead of the open door button. This happened to me once and I am sure that I am not the only person who has done it.
The use of natural mapping (putting controls where they make sense), use of pictograms instead of written instructions, and both visual and audible cues should be incorporated into our ModBox project.
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