This is Broken

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This is Broken

We should demand better than "good enough" in the design of our environment. This is an attempt at noticing the problem (with the occasional example of good design).

Updated Irregularly.

You should check out my other longer-form more speculative blog, called Quiet Babylon, here.

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  • Flushing is Confusing (via lot49a) The first time I encountered an efficiency toilet, it was 1am at a house where I was renting a room for the night. My hosts were all asleep, so there was no one to explain how it worked.I don’t know who decided that a pair of unlabelled buttons was an improvement over a single lever, but they were wrong. You may have encountered one of these before, or its operation may seem obvious to you. To my sleep addled brain, it was not obvious at all.Two buttons offers the user at least 6 modes of interaction. (Tap small, tap big, tap both, hold small, hold big, hold both.) Assuming that you know that efficiency toilets exist (there’s nothing aside from the new flushing interface to let you know that this is one) you have to deduce how to use it properly through some kind of trial and error.Before you accuse me of being obtuse on purpose, know that the toilet I encountered GAVE MORE WATER IF YOU HELD DOWN SMALL. Nor was there (to my untrained eye) any obvious difference in volume of water used with the big or small buttons.The most frustrating part is that regular toilets already have two modes of flushing. Tapping and holding the lever down.

    Flushing is Confusing (via lot49a)

    The first time I encountered an efficiency toilet, it was 1am at a house where I was renting a room for the night. My hosts were all asleep, so there was no one to explain how it worked.

    I don’t know who decided that a pair of unlabelled buttons was an improvement over a single lever, but they were wrong. You may have encountered one of these before, or its operation may seem obvious to you. To my sleep addled brain, it was not obvious at all.

    Two buttons offers the user at least 6 modes of interaction. (Tap small, tap big, tap both, hold small, hold big, hold both.) Assuming that you know that efficiency toilets exist (there’s nothing aside from the new flushing interface to let you know that this is one) you have to deduce how to use it properly through some kind of trial and error.

    Before you accuse me of being obtuse on purpose, know that the toilet I encountered GAVE MORE WATER IF YOU HELD DOWN SMALL. Nor was there (to my untrained eye) any obvious difference in volume of water used with the big or small buttons.

    The most frustrating part is that regular toilets already have two modes of flushing. Tapping and holding the lever down.

    Posted on July 21, 2009

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