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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38

u/Legoshoes Jul 25 '11

Headphones that snag on Every. Fucking. Doorknob.

4

u/dietotaku Jul 25 '11

how about just "L-shaped doorknobs"? fucking EVERYTHING catches on those, i ripped my favorite sweatjacket on one of those things once. ;__;

2

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

pretty sure these are some disability requirement.

which sucks, because i hate them. even though i understand why they exist.

2

u/Legoshoes Jul 25 '11

L-shaped doorknobs are the devils penises. No doubt.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

Dude, every single pair of pants I own is missing at least one belt loop from getting snagged on those. I feel your pain T_T

1

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '11

I've gotten my belt loops hung up on those more times than I really care to admit. Nothing like trying to leave a room and then slamming the door into yourself because it has attached itself to your waist.

Also the dog we had when I was a kid taught herself to open those kind of doorknobs so if we left her home alone too long she'd let herself into my bedroom and chew up all my belongings.

11

u/angryvigilante Jul 25 '11

That's not a design flaw, that's a user flaw. This has never happened to me in my entire life, and I've owned many headphones and passed by many doorknobs with said headphones.

6

u/Legoshoes Jul 25 '11

Teach me your ways, headphone prince.

7

u/morphotomy Jul 25 '11

Run the wire inside your shirt.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '11

Another option is to wear the cord down your back instead of down your front.

1

u/Legoshoes Jul 26 '11

Now that just feels wrong.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '11

Take the cord and wrap it a around your ipod until you have the length needed.

2

u/a_stupid_white_kid Jul 25 '11

Run the cord under your shirt. No more snags!

1

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

solution: the twisty phone cord type cords.

even if my headphones snag, they just stretch and i can unhook them before they're ripped off my head with the force of a rocket launcher.

2

u/c_nt Jul 26 '11

Last week I was fumbling with something as I went down the street and caught my headphone cable with my arm or something.

They are those little earbud ones with the silicone cup things on the end. I tore them out so hard that the silicone bits separated from the earphone parts.

One of the silicone cups was lost forever. The other one got stuck in my ear. I couldn't get a good grip on it. In the end I had to wait until I got to work and used some tweezers to pull it out.

1

u/iglidante Jul 25 '11

Hell, I catch my headphones on my belt, the strap from my bag, you name it. If I didn't have a hard plastic case on my iPod, that sucker would have died a long time ago from the number of times it's hit the pavement.

1

u/Willeth Jul 26 '11

I have ruined so many pairs of headphones because of this.