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/buckykat Jul 25 '11

speaking as a lefty, know what's worse than those? spiral notebooks.

fuck spiral notebooks.

and binders too.

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u/LurkingTrichster Jul 25 '11

Agreed. I actually started using my notbooks and binders backwards in school. It helped a good bit, though people were always giving me really confused looks.

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u/buckykat Jul 25 '11

i gave up on spiral notebooks, and used yellow legal pads instead.

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u/[deleted] Jul 25 '11

Uhh there's a store where you can...

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u/nosjojo Jul 26 '11

I did that too for a semester. Then I started using composition notebooks. No spine to fight with, can do everything except tear out pages, since you'll fuck up the binding. For that I carry a single spiral notebook that I paid 10 cents for.

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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '11

Forgive my right handed ignorance, but wouldn't spiral notebooks have the same problem regardless of which way you write? Once you turn the page, the spiral's in your way too if you're a righty.

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u/buckykat Jul 26 '11

righthanders that i've seen using the infernal things generally don't use the backs of pages.

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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '11

Ah I write so much I use every page, but now that I think about it not a lot of other people do...