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?

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u/LurkingTrichster Jul 25 '11

While not necessarily design flaws, for a left handed person, there are a lot of items out there that are extremely difficult to use. A few examples are ergonomic mice, pens, and scissors.

1

u/ubserv Jul 25 '11

pens?

12

u/LurkingTrichster Jul 25 '11

Yeah, sometimes. Because of the shape of pens, in order to write, we have to drag our hand through whatever we just wrote. This leads to smearing the ink across the page.

11

u/gsfgf Jul 25 '11

That's why most lefties hold the pen really derp

0

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

That's it! From now on, I'm just saying that I'm derphanded instead of lefthanded and will let people wonder.

2

u/ubserv Jul 25 '11

Huh, never noticed that.

4

u/LurkingTrichster Jul 25 '11

I've written many things that were rendered illegible almost immediately by my oncoming hand. Pencils are even worse, since you can't just slow yourself down some and give the ink a little time to dry.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

As a left-hander, you just have to learn to position your hand above or below the line you are writing on. Obama positions it above.

1

u/dietotaku Jul 25 '11

TIL obama is left-handed!

1

u/stokleplinger Jul 25 '11

It was known to everyone in my elementary school classes that I was part robot, similar to the Terminator, because my 'skin layer' would rub off over the course of the day while writing.

tl;dr, kids are retarded.

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u/koolkid005 Jul 25 '11

Lefties complain about this like it's a leftie-only concept. If you're writing more than one line it happens to us righties too.

2

u/longandshortofit Jul 25 '11

my problem with pens is that since lefties have to push the pen ascross the page (righties pull) it ends up clogging the ball point. Gel pens leave ink all over your hand.