Ruminations on 'Right vs. Pragmatic'

Marco Arment’s recent post on ‘Right vs Pragmatic’ inspired some thoughts in the in me as jobbing ergonomist. He uses an example I’ve used before to illustrate some interesting behaviours concerning design, hygiene, and maintenance. Okay, four sacred principles of ergonomic design are to consider:

• frequency of use
• importance of use
• sequences of action, and
• grouping of related items.

Marco illustrates nicely the consequences of failing to consider these principles using a men’s bathroom. The many of the users don’t want to touch the handle so they use and drop paper towels on the floor next to it. Incidentally, blokes will know the uncomfortable feeling of seeing someone not wash their hands and leave, and then discovering a wet door handle from the previous hand-washing user, hopefully, maybe not, nasty. Shame on you, if you don't wash. He mentions some solutions, from the passive-aggressive notices to moving the waste-bin. When the users drop towels, they are clues that the design is flawed. I can see where he's coming from in adopting a quick pragmatic fix, as a general solution. However, lets step back and consider the source of the problem. The vast majority of men’s rooms, have a handle on the inside. Why, handles say pull. Flat plates say push, why not use them on the inside of the door? This also facilitates use of other parts of the door to leave the room. By stepping back and designing the environment initially with consideration for user behaviour, the clumsy retrospective solutions could be avoided. It doesn't take long to switch a handle to a plate.