The UX of water faucets
How faucets in the UK DO NOT hide complexity from the user
Bad product design is everywhere you look. Take British taps, for example. 🇬🇧 For the uninitiated, washing your hands in the UK often involves splashing together two disparate streams of water — one that is (I assume) sourced from melting ice caps 🧊, the other heated by the Earth’s molten core 🔥.
Why is this?
I asked my European colleague about his experience, and he replied:
What Do Experts Say?
We asked Kevin Wellman, Chief Executive Officer of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering, why British faucets are designed this way.
“This tradition dates back to when hot and cold water were kept separate to prevent contamination through cross-connection,” he said.
“Coldwater came from a mains supply and was fit for drinking. Hot water would be serviced by a local storage cistern often situated in the loft.
“This caused an imbalance of pressures which meant that if incorrect taps and valves were installed, one stream of water could force its way across to the other.”
In layman’s terms: Having separate taps in the UK is easier and simpler to install and keep safe. But who benefits from this solution? The maker, builder, and government enforce this rule — yes, but what about the end user looking to wash their hands quickly?
What’s The Underlying Logic Here?
This is a typical example, and you can likely find similar experiences in your day-to-day life. People often design or build stuff to solve their problems… without necessarily considering the end-user. And it reminds me of Tesler’s law:
“Tesler’s Law states that a system’s total complexity is a constant that cannot be reduced. Instead, it must be dealt with, either in product development(by creator) or in the user interaction(by user).”
In the case of water faucets, the complexity is left to the end-user. The plumbing system can connect the cold water pipe to the cold water tap and the hot water pipe to the hot water tap, and then, well, it’s up to you how to get a pleasant water temperature out of it.
More Examples
I love showcasing scientific laws and principles out in the real world, so join me as we find more examples out in the wild:
An unexpected example coming from Apple: the infamous removal of MacBook Pro ports:
The picture above may not be necessary if you’re like me and living with a pile of dongles. The I/O options like HDMI, SD card, USB, etc., are no longer available.
Before Covid, I needed to carry an adapter(pictured below)to go into meeting rooms, where only HDMI or DVI cables were available to me when presenting.
After Covid, I needed to spend a month setting up my workstation, which looks like this.
Apple designed the new MacBook Pro to be thinner and lighter, but I believe there is a certain amount of complexity in handling the I/O between the MacBook Pro and other devices that weren’t addressed.
According to the Tesla law above, somebody has to deal with it — If not the designer or manufacturers, it falls on the end-users.
Example From the Digital World
Let’s move to the digital product world. You may be familiar with the image below if you are older than Generation Z. It’s the toolbar of well known Microsoft office product. It’s a great example of leaving complexity to the end-user.
Don’t get me wrong. The Microsoft Office Suite has been a great product since its release, a huge productivity booster for users with its rich functionality. The image above shows all the features (good or bad) in the toolbar that do not apply to all users but show to all users. The designer of this product didn’t deal with this complex problem, which means the end-user needs to deal with it every day! I still have nightmares about that toolbar.
In comparison, below is an excellent example of Google Docs removing that complexity for the end-user, allowing them focus on the tasks at hand.
Example from FreshBooks
The Gmail Add-on removes the complexity of syncing information between Gmail and FreshBooks, allowing users to focus on the task and access key information at the point of the job.
Before the Gmail FreshBooks Add-on app, when users received an invoice email or inquiry from their client, they needed to log in to FreshBooks and go to the client page, search and find the client, and then go to the client page to get an overall idea of how is this client financially. Whew! 5+ clicks. With the add-on, the complexity of syncing information is hidden behind the scene. Now, users can focus on the work that matters to their business.
TL;DR: What Have We Learned?
As a former engineer turned Product Designer, I want to emphasize that we shouldn’t leave a system’s complexity to the end-user. The whole product team, including engineers, product designers and product managers, should work together to hide the system’s complexity and make the product easier to use for the end-user.
