User Experience

Why Water Saving Flushes are “Wired” Wrong

Big / Little Flush

Snapshot and closeups of the watersaving pressure flush

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.

How to Confuse ATM Users

Closeup of the Envelope Insertion slot in an ATM

Closeup of the Envelope Insertion slot in an ATM

ATMs are great. You’re no longer restricted by where your bank is and when it is open. But, I wish they’d spend a little more time getting the designs right. The image above is from an ATM I used. The ATM has Braille, which is wonderful. You can see the Braille in the strip above the envelope insertion slot. I can’t read it, but I assume it says that the envelope slot is below. This is a very nice touch, great attention to detail. In addition, all the edges are gently rounded, there are no sharp corners, overall a very well executed design.

Given the attention to detail, what I don’t get is the image showing you how to insert envelopes into the slot. Its bad…

  • The biggest problem is that the orientation of the envelopes+slot icon and the arrow is wrong. It looks like you’re supposed to pull the envelopes out of the slot.
  • The second is that the envelopes look like they are going into the slot along their width, rather than the edge.
  • It also looks like you’re supposed to put in a stack of envelopes.
  • The arrow may have been intended to indicate where the slot is. However, that is confusing. It is so close to the slot+envelope graphic that it looks like it telling you what action to perform.
Better ATM Slot Graphic

ATM With the insertion graphic moved to the slot

A better design would be to move the envelope insertion graphic to the deposit slot (and fix its orientation) like the image above.

Companies are always looking for ways to cut costs. When I managed Sun’s industrial design team, I learned about keeping costs down. The graphics are printed onto the metal using silk screening. Images on two separate bits of metal is twice the cost. The two bits of metal (silver and gray in the picture above) might come from different sources. The silk screen should not bother trying to tell you where the slot is. It is large compared to the graphic that it is hard to miss. Also, trying to show the envelopes / envelope stack is too much detail, and adds to the confusion by suggesting the envelopes go in face down. Simplifying the graphic has a better result.

Better Silk Screen Design

Simplified Silk Screen icon

I’m guessing the team that designed the ATM had a decent design. Most likely, someone who was responsible for cost cutting made some design changes without consulting the design team. Whenever Sun’s team needed to cost cut, they worked with the ID team who modified their design to fit the constraints.