Usability Hell

The only toilet in a cafe in Clapham, London. The top is taped; it wont stay up itself.

We’ve all seen some variation on this…

1. Female uses toilet. Situation Green.
2. Male with circus experience manages to relieve himself and hold seat up *at the same time*, with no mistakes. Situation Green.
3. An average dude enters the room. Situation Orange.
4. Average dude tries same trick. Fails. Magic happens. Situation Red.
5. A female enters the room then runs screaming, never to be seen again. Situation Red

The cafe’s owner thought:

“Taping up the lid is fine, it looks great & women having a moist time in here is OK - the state of your toilet facilities doesn’t matter.”

It does! Why do so many restaurants / cafe’s etc get this wrong?

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman looks at the importance of designing objects well - it’s a must read for anyone into usability.