Design flaws in the doors at TDV

In The design of everyday things by Donald Norman, he talked about the principles of affordances, signifiers, discoverability and feedback in terms of design of an object. If all of these principles work together, the idea of human-centred design is born.

Affordance are the functions an object can perform or the possible uses of it. Signifiers are the hints or cues that helps the user to know how a thing can function or know about its affordance. Discoverability is the phase in which the user discovers the functions of an object by using it practically. Feedbacks are the possible results of the discoverability phase. It helps you to understand whether you have used the object in the right way or not, it not only signals you about the error but also hints you about the correct way to use it.

He also says that it is useless to give signifiers with a product. People would never follow them, they would go with the hit and trial instead. It should be designed in such a way that it should naturally signify it’s correct use.

Now il be taking an example of the classroom doors at TDV. First of all it is really shocking to see such design flaws at a design school.

The doors have handles on both the sides and it can be opened in one direction only because it collides with the false ceiling if opened to the other side.

The fact that it has handles on both the sides, it’s a really bad signifier. People have the tendency to ‘pull' open a door when they find handles on them. Which goes fine for one side for these but not the other.

One effective solution is that they can remove the handle from the side of the door from where it only can be pushed and not pulled. This will be like a natural signifier for the user and will fully reduce the chances to make a mistake.