As a user experience designer, I can’t help constantly evaluating the designs of new user experiences. I’m also very conscious about conservation and believe that reducing consumption is critical. So I was delighted on a recent trip to Oregon to find that one of the visitor centers was fitted with a two setting flush. Push the lever one way and get a small amount of water, push the lever the other way and get a regular flush. Most of the time, the toilets are only expelling liquid and the little flush works fine. This saves water.

The problem is that the flush doesn’t match the UE principle of making the easiest behavior match the default action. For example, in a dialog box, this is like putting focus control on the “OK” button. The most easy “gesture” with the lever is to push the lever down. But pushing down does a regular flush, which most of the time wastes water.

The flush should have been designed with a push down for a small flush, and a pull up for a regular flush. That would match the easiest action (push down) with the default behavior (small flush). This would save the most amount of water. The small percentage of users who pushed the lever down when they should have pulled up will either repeat their action or read the instructions and pull the lever up.