You need to "fix" Gotham's numerals.

hhp

Have you tried to use slanted numbers and bringing them upright? I’m not fully convinced about the top situation of 1, 3, 5, 4 an 7. Especially the different parallels of the slanted shape and the 1. 4 would need to be redrawn, especially the situation below right is unsatisfying. I would pull down the 7 more out of the shape. And overall i find the deleted counters not a good treatment, because thus some numerals tend to be more important than others. And is there a zero floor?

I'd do it like this...

That’s what i meant.

I think I was quicker putting it together compared to typing text ;-)

BTW, I would move /4/ slightly to the right. I made this in Illustrator, with all numerals aligned to the right.

Yes. And the curves don’t look right and 8 is falling to the left.

I don't see the point of right alignment, and it exacerbates the problems with vertical alignment of proportional numbers. The 'help' is centered, inevitably it seems. Also the filled counters throw off the balance of the numbers with one another. This needs to be rethought to get a good solution IMHO.

Awesome, thanks so much for the feedback guys. As always it's much appreciated.

To provide a little perspective, I've uploaded a picture of how this layout is actually being used in the "real" elevator environment:

With this image in mind, I'd like to respond to the comments so far. And I apologize in advance; I'm sure this will all sound like very transparent rationalization and excuse-making. :)

1) The counters aren't being filled in for a stylistic reason, or at least not for a "directly" stylistic reason. As I think is clearer in the supplied image, the buttons are intended to have a very industrial, precision-machined feel to them, and casting them in a single piece of metal conveys that better than including separate, floating pieces in the counters. With the metal finish and the backlighting behind each button, I hope this looks more like a deliberate decision on a manufacturing level, if not a typographical one.

2) I really appreciate the version of the layout with the skewed numerals. I agree, the layout is much more stable and consistent that way, and certainly easier to align/balance. Ultimately, though, one of my favorite parts of the diagonal buttons is the way the non-diagonal numerals contrast in their directions; alignment headaches aside, I think the vertical numerals generate interesting intersections with the angled edges of the buttons. The numbers almost appear to be "emerging" or "rising up" from the bottom of the buttons, rather than "sinking" along with them. For an elevator, I think this is an appropriate connotation.

Also, on a purely optical level, I want to avoid the typical artifacts that affect the curves of algorithmically skewed letterforms.

3) William's comment about the right alignment being problematic and unnecessary is true and not really one I can argue against. However, this was another case where I found the center alignment a bit bland (with the exception of "HELP", where it was simply unavoidable and, in my opinion, an acceptable exception since it's the one non-numeral). The right alignment, which I agree is a minefield and not hugely obvious in its necessity, ties back into the underlying elevator notion of up/down motion; my intent was to create a sense of lift in each letter, and by pushing the numerals to the highest point within each button (which just happens to be the right side), I think I capture a little more of that. In a lot of ways they almost resemble a person riding an escalator, which isn't EXACTLY appropriate for an elevator, but close enough. :)

In other words, everything above is my way of saying that while I agree with all the practical and aesthetic arguments against the layout, these decisions play too heavy a role in my conception of the elevator concept to abandon, leaving me no choice but to make the best of them. So I've made some slight modifications to the 1/4/7 column that I think balance things out about as well as can be expected given the admittedly stubborn requirements listed above. In particular, the /1/ and /4/ numerals are now centered with the /7/ beneath them.

There's probably still a lot to nitpick about the exact placement of everything, but I think overall this works well enough. Considering how awkward the premise of the layout is to begin with, "good enough" seems acceptable to me.

Lastly, you'll notice that unlike the buttons, the array of 7-segment displays (the digits on the screen) is slanted along with the shape of the screen itself. This is arguably a pretty blatant inconsistency, so I'm going to experiment with a non-slanted version. (I just wanted to point that out preemptively :)

Anyway, this process was extremely helpful, even if we don't have the same ultimate opinion on things, so thanks again! I really do appreciate the feedback either way. Additional commentary is still welcome, btw.

If you think it’s perfect how you made it, why ask for second commentary?

Because even artistes posing as designers need to exhibit their work.

hhp

I certainly didn't say anything was or is perfect. Quite the opposite, in fact; my whole point was that it's a very awkward premise to begin with and there was probably never going to be a perfect way to balance my own ideas for the design with the more typographically graceful solutions you guys provided. But I still wanted to give it a shot and at least know for sure. That's why I said that even though I ultimately more or less stuck with the design I had, I still found this process very valuable.

And come on, I love Typophile, but this would be a very odd way to "exhibit" my work if that's what I were after.

Maybe I was too harsh.

hhp

You will need custom skewed 7 segment displays for this project.

Why do I get the feeling the "HELP" button will be the one that gets most often used?

It would look less terrible (but maybe still terrible) if the 7-8-9 were on top. This way, the digits would be arranged from bottom to top in order from least to greatest, including on each slanted row.

If you really want to be an "artiste", use the Lo Shu.

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Question: Is this an input panel and is the floor number displayed by the four digit number above?

on a purely optical level, I want to avoid the typical artifacts that affect the curves of algorithmically skewed letterforms.

I second the design with the skewed numbers. You could consider to take the italic and skew it slightly to get the right angle. The visual distortion you then get will only be a few degrees. Much less then when you take the roman and skew it to the desired angle.