5 ms·

I ran into a door today that had a handle on the push side. Not even a crossbar - an aluminum folded-over handle, one on each of the double doors. It is, unmist

I ran into a door today that had a handle on the push side. Not even a crossbar - an aluminum folded-over handle, one on each of the double doors. It is, unmistakably, a pull handle, and it had "PUSH" written above it and even underlined, and still it gave me pause.

robocat 5y ago
I see so many glass doors designed like that. The doors usually have a sticker that says “PUSH” on the push side, however the sticker is invariably printed with a transparent background so you can read it from the pull side. I don’t notice when I am reading something backwards/mirrored, so I am always pushing on the pull side…… Arrrrrrgh!
- laurent92 5y ago
  At this point I believe it’s a tradition to design push doors this way.
- dalmo3 5y ago
  I also often fall for those signs that can be read from behind. Also somewhat related, I hate road signs written on the road that read bottom up.
- usrusr 5y ago
  The part of my brain that deciphers the mirrored text is so proud of its stupid little achievement that it shouts down the result from the easy version so that the part that tells my hands what to do only gets the mirrored instruction. Every single time.
conductr 5y ago
I can think of one door in a place I frequent for lunch like this which I have repeatedly ran into. Now, 80% of the times I start thinking about it about 20 feet away as I’m approaching it. My internal dialogue goes something like “Ignore how it looks, it’s a push door.” The other 20% of the times I still fumble the opening. It’s the most unintuitive thing I’ve experienced in a while.
mattzito 5y ago
When I worked for squarespace, their beautiful new offices had glass conference room doors that swung one way, the other way, or slid on a track, depending on the room configuration. However every one of those doors had the same handle on both sides, giving you no clue as to which scenario this door was providing. You saw people pull/push the wrong way all the time, and then look up/to the side to see the hinges and where the door stop was. I eventually mentally dubbed that quiet look upwards before you touched a door the, “squarespace peek”. After a while I’d heard that the original plans had the typical plate and handle for push/pull and the ceo felt like it messed with the design of the doors.
- akg_67 5y ago
  It reminded me of my experience at a Japanese Onsen (hot spring) last week. While entering the Onsen, the sliding door is automated and slides to open on it’s own. While exiting, the automated sliding doesn’t work. It has handles with no indication of pull or push or slide. The design of handles suggest most probably pull. I kept trying to pull/push with no movement. Finally, realized I am supposed to use those handles to slide the door left and right. That was one funky design, imo.
  - bouncycastle 5y ago
    Reminds me of this japanese comedy sketch https://youtu.be/ZkQNP2cqG2I https://youtu.be/ZkQNP2cqG2I Another tricky thing is figuring out how to flush the public toilets. The user interface is non standard on every toilet. The most surprising way I've encountered was to step on a button on the floor. (Remember to never press the big green button)
    - masklinn 5y ago
      > Remember to never press the big green button Is that one that automatically opens the door, or one which automatically starts a full wash of the entire toilet cabinet's interior?
      - 5y ago
wmwmwm 5y ago
There used to be a coffee shop opposite my office that had a pull handle on the push side of the double doors. The right hand side doors were also often locked. I once sat at the nearest table to the doors and watched a dozen people pull then push on the right door, then pull and finally push on the left door, and often end up visibly aggravated by the time they got in and joined the morning queue! The next day my debugging instinct kicked in, I bought some PUSH stickers and did some covert guerrilla ergonomic stickering. Problem solved and it made me smile every time I went past that cafe!
- toomanyrichies 5y ago
  You’re doing the Lord’s work. I’ll buy you a beer if we ever run into each other.
- fredophile 5y ago
  Double doors where one door doesn't actually open are one of the most frustrating designs I commonly encounter.
  - cgranier 5y ago
    To this day, I can't understand the thought process behind opening only one half of the door and locking the other one. I used to go around unlatching the offending doors, but got tired of it.
onion2k 5y ago
This is known as a "Norman Door". There's a great episode of 99% Invisible about them. https://99percentinvisible.org/article/norman-doors-dont-know-whether-push-pull-blame-design/ https://99percentinvisible.org/article/norman-doors-dont-kno...

robocat 5y ago

I see so many glass doors designed like that. The doors usually have a sticker that says “PUSH” on the push side, however the sticker is invariably printed with a transparent background so you can read it from the pull side. I don’t notice when I am reading something backwards/mirrored, so I am always pushing on the pull side…… Arrrrrrgh!

laurent92 5y ago
At this point I believe it’s a tradition to design push doors this way.
dalmo3 5y ago
I also often fall for those signs that can be read from behind. Also somewhat related, I hate road signs written on the road that read bottom up.
usrusr 5y ago
The part of my brain that deciphers the mirrored text is so proud of its stupid little achievement that it shouts down the result from the easy version so that the part that tells my hands what to do only gets the mirrored instruction. Every single time.

conductr 5y ago

I can think of one door in a place I frequent for lunch like this which I have repeatedly ran into. Now, 80% of the times I start thinking about it about 20 feet away as I’m approaching it. My internal dialogue goes something like “Ignore how it looks, it’s a push door.” The other 20% of the times I still fumble the opening. It’s the most unintuitive thing I’ve experienced in a while.

mattzito 5y ago

When I worked for squarespace, their beautiful new offices had glass conference room doors that swung one way, the other way, or slid on a track, depending on the room configuration. However every one of those doors had the same handle on both sides, giving you no clue as to which scenario this door was providing. You saw people pull/push the wrong way all the time, and then look up/to the side to see the hinges and where the door stop was. I eventually mentally dubbed that quiet look upwards before you touched a door the, “squarespace peek”. After a while I’d heard that the original plans had the typical plate and handle for push/pull and the ceo felt like it messed with the design of the doors.

akg_67 5y ago
It reminded me of my experience at a Japanese Onsen (hot spring) last week. While entering the Onsen, the sliding door is automated and slides to open on it’s own. While exiting, the automated sliding doesn’t work. It has handles with no indication of pull or push or slide. The design of handles suggest most probably pull. I kept trying to pull/push with no movement. Finally, realized I am supposed to use those handles to slide the door left and right. That was one funky design, imo.
- bouncycastle 5y ago
  Reminds me of this japanese comedy sketch https://youtu.be/ZkQNP2cqG2I https://youtu.be/ZkQNP2cqG2I Another tricky thing is figuring out how to flush the public toilets. The user interface is non standard on every toilet. The most surprising way I've encountered was to step on a button on the floor. (Remember to never press the big green button)
  - masklinn 5y ago
    > Remember to never press the big green button Is that one that automatically opens the door, or one which automatically starts a full wash of the entire toilet cabinet's interior?
    - 5y ago

wmwmwm 5y ago

There used to be a coffee shop opposite my office that had a pull handle on the push side of the double doors. The right hand side doors were also often locked. I once sat at the nearest table to the doors and watched a dozen people pull then push on the right door, then pull and finally push on the left door, and often end up visibly aggravated by the time they got in and joined the morning queue! The next day my debugging instinct kicked in, I bought some PUSH stickers and did some covert guerrilla ergonomic stickering. Problem solved and it made me smile every time I went past that cafe!

toomanyrichies 5y ago
You’re doing the Lord’s work. I’ll buy you a beer if we ever run into each other.
fredophile 5y ago
Double doors where one door doesn't actually open are one of the most frustrating designs I commonly encounter.
- cgranier 5y ago
  To this day, I can't understand the thought process behind opening only one half of the door and locking the other one. I used to go around unlatching the offending doors, but got tired of it.

onion2k 5y ago

This is known as a "Norman Door". There's a great episode of 99% Invisible about them. https://99percentinvisible.org/article/norman-doors-dont-know-whether-push-pull-blame-design/ https://99percentinvisible.org/article/norman-doors-dont-kno...