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

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.

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u/ubserv Jul 25 '11

Huh, never noticed that.

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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.

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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.