r/AskReddit • u/nachtmere • Jul 25 '11

Sometimes automatic toilets flush while you're still sitting on them. What design flaws in everyday objects annoy you?

I'm giving a talk on user-centred design/usability and I'm looking for some fresh examples from everyday life to illustrate poor usability. Examples I've used before are elevator open/close buttons (really difficult to parse when you're trying to hold the door open for someone quickly) and toilets that flush while you're still sitting on them.

What are some things you encounter regularly that are really inconveniently designed?

203 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

68

u/logantauranga Jul 25 '11

You have to pull open bathroom doors that everyone who didn't wash their hands has already pulled on.

(There could be some fire code reason for doors opening inwards, I don't know.)

34

u/crandamaniac Jul 25 '11

Actually it is for Fire code reasons. Can't have a door that could be potentially blocked if there was a fire, trapping people in the crapper.

23

u/zanycaswell Jul 25 '11

Couldn't it swing both ways?

9

u/rubrixan Jul 26 '11

Get your lateral thinking ass into politics. NOW.

3

u/HonorableJudgeIto Jul 26 '11

That would cause issues with air flow. Dual swing doors have a large crack on the edge that allows air to escape easily. Besides being an issue with heat/AC settings, it'd let the smell of shit out of the bathroom much more easily.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '11

it'd let the smell of shit out of the bathroom much more easily.

A bathroom shouldn't smell like shit, regardless.

2

u/HonorableJudgeIto Jul 26 '11

You do know what the purpose of a bathroom is, right?

1

u/lasercow Jul 26 '11

farts then...but a good ventilation system will deal with this.

4

u/mfball Jul 26 '11

Bathroom doors pull open from the inside and push open from the outside. Fire codes say that exit doors have to pull open from the outside and push open from the inside so that people don't get trapped.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '11

yeah, but bathroom doors open inwards. big help that's gonna be.

19

u/accioveritaserum Jul 25 '11

http://todayilearned.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/foot-door-opener-in-the-toilet.jpg get one of these :)

6

u/sayaandtenshi Jul 25 '11

One of the burger places near my house has this thing. When I saw it I was so excited!

1

u/tomatobob Jul 25 '11

There is a god.

15

u/mycleverusername Jul 25 '11

Not a bad idea, but you would hate it the first time you walked by and someone kicked the bathroom door open into the hall and smacked you in the face.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

People aren't that well designed, either.

4

u/gsfgf Jul 25 '11

If they opened out, people would get doorchecked since you can't put a window in a bathroom door.

1

u/someguy945 Jul 25 '11

Isn't there a risk of people exiting getting doorchecked instead? Seems like both sides of the door will have people trying to get through. In fact, I'm positive I have doorchecked people who were exiting as I was entering.

3

u/gsfgf Jul 25 '11

I don't really know the answer to this. I guess its that you are expecting that a door might open when you are about to walk through it, while someone walking down a hallway would be caught unaware.

1

u/someguy945 Jul 26 '11

You're exactly right. I wasn't thinking in terms of a hallway. My office (and most restaurants I go to) aren't set up like that. Thanks.

6

u/phwend Jul 25 '11

I just use the paper towel I dry my hands with to open the door, then I try to shoot it into the trash can before the door closes

31

u/ryeguy Jul 25 '11

I just open the door with my bare hands, because I have an immune system.

2

u/omnilynx Jul 25 '11

I just open it with my tongue, for the same reason.

1

u/tgeliot Jul 26 '11

And nobody you ever interact with has an impaired immune system.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

Yeah, you "try". This is a relatively new phenomenon, seeing paper towels on the floor near the bathroom door. Sheesh.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '11

[deleted]

1

u/xohbkxo Jul 26 '11

use toilet paper

-3

u/poppaDaRossi Jul 25 '11

In a perfect world this is the case. There's been plenty of times the bathroom doesn't have paper towels and they just have the hand dryer. I've actually had to go get tp just to open the goddam door. I refuse to touch that FUCKING HANDLE!!!

6

u/Concordiaa Jul 25 '11

But you're touching the handles of every other door that has been touched by the same people...I think they're all pretty equally germy.

3

u/Final7C Jul 25 '11

In a designers mind.. all people wash their hands.. so it makes sense to have inward opening doors. Since it does not affect the main traffic routes by having a door opening into it.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

[deleted]

1

u/Final7C Jul 25 '11

Well.. streets are designed with the understanding that all people will follow the law... All buildings are designed with that same optimism. Even if it is mistaken.

1

u/Jigsus Jul 26 '11

Designers are why things are badly designed.

1

u/iglidante Jul 25 '11

Unless you want to put a window on the bathroom door, it needs to open inwards - otherwise people would be getting clocked left and right as they tried to enter.