Urinals and Usability
propelics.com
propelics.com
Immediately questions sprung up for me. Has the writer thought about possible regulations surrounding installation of urinal in millions of localities around the world? How about the regulations of manufacturing urinals? There's also countless rules surrounding import/export laws for 200s countries around the world. I'm not even accounting for interstate laws within US and other countries. This was just grand legal issues alone. Consider availability of time before deadlines, experts who can install the urinal, money budgeted for urinals and bathroom space, etc... You can imagine countless situations where even installing "subpar" urinals are actually really hard.
My criticism also extends to the book that started it all, The Design of Everyday Things. It's such a simplified platonic world view, I couldn't take the book seriously. The condescending tone of voice the author had was really annoying as well.
I'm sure there are many regulations that are born out of sensible tradeoffs, but then the things you are defending aren't the regulations, they are the other sides of the tradeoffs.
"Provide water distribution and fixture supply piping, sized as required elsewhere in this code, roughed-in immediately adjacent to each waterless urinal fixture installed."
At one new building I worked in, they had to put in standard water based urinals to pass inspection then replaced them with waterless urinals for their LEED certification -- presumably now the codes allow for waterless urinals, but apparently still require the plumbing.
Given the extent to which I despise low-flow toilets, for their propensity to be clogged by even the most modest of turds, I am glad to see that someone is thinking ahead on the possibility that the current popularity of no-flush urinals may fade in time.
This code makes converting new construction to flush urinals similar in cost to re-converting old construction that had been previously converted to no-flush.
It seems like a good idea to me, especially for public buildings, but even so, it is completely wrong for a government to force this one upon everybody. This is the kind of thing that gets wielded as a hammer against off-grid aficionados that install composting toilets, because they do not wish to connect to the muni water supply and sewers.
Laws that increase the minimum cost of doing something are a very significant barrier to innovations and locally appropriate technologies.
You can't necessarily just decide you're a Designer of Everyday Things(TM) by critiquing them solely from the standpoint of an end-user who considers himself observant.
Viva the high urinal
This being said selecting urinals as a comparison to enterprise mobile UX/UP patterns is a bit off-putting, sexist and simply unprofessional.
Which is not to say it isn't, but I'd like to hear you explain/justify your claim that it is sexist.
That's usually all it takes nowadays.
The problem is it feeds pretty heavily into the notion of "Male as Default" and that when you're talking to a tech audience, you're talking exclusively to guys. The thing being discussed, compared to, etc. is supposed to be a common experience, something that you've actually thought about, or at least would go "Yeah, that is weird..."
For half the population, urinals are not so much something they interact with. By assuming it's a common experience, you're assuming the reader is male.
You must be great fun at parties.
Splashback is too often ignored by urinal manufacturers. The angles of surfaces should direct all streams and all splashes toward the drain. When you have a perfectly flat back, the user has to stand further away, which enables direct drip onto the floor or aim-related scattering.
The "piss-on-wall" urinal with recessed floor drain is the... golden standard.
Really, the design constraints for female-use urinals are far more challenging. I have no hope that existing manufacturers can get close to correct there as long as every men's room I see outside of a sports stadium has "bucket" style urinals, mounted at the wrong height, with no thought to splashback or occupancy etiquette.
I haven't had to clean public washrooms in over 10 years now, but I will never forget the incredibly disgusting sights I had to endure in the stalls of women's washrooms. While men's stalls aren't always spic 'n span either (if any man reading this has ever taken a piss without even lifting the seat, or have poured half your liquid onto the floor - fuck you), the number of occasions on which this is encountered is a tiny fraction compared to what women routinely do.
Yuck.
?!?
The piss-on-wall urinal is horrid. There's splashback no matter how you stand. The problem is especially exacerbated if the user is wearing sandals.
The golden standard (imo) is a water-flush bowl-style urinal mounted at an appropriate height and with wide dividers between users. TBH though, I still prefer a stall.
FYI I'm a product design engineer at a plumbing fixtures manufacturer
This. Hand-operated manual flush levers on urinals need to die. Why? I happen to be flexible enough to flush urinals with my feet. I usually feel too self-conscious to do this if other people are present, but if I'm alone I do it every time. I know I'm not the only person who does this, so I also know that whatever is on the floor of bathrooms has a high probability of coating flush levers too. This behaviour is probably even more common for sit-down toilets because the handles are lower and privacy is greater.
Motion detectors work. You almost never see foot pedals, oddly enough. I really hate the two-mode flush buttons on toilets that are too small to hit with your foot, not that it will stop me from trying.
UX lesson: Pay attention to people's pre-existing habits. You can try to force people to use your interface in a certain way but, if there are no tangible benefits, they may insist on mashing it with their boots.
I guess with people having the easy choice to wash their hands after touching floor contaminated handles, making the doors open out (or go doorless like in new Walmarts) solves most of it.
Does this include the toilets at work, or just in dirty places? (Which can be a lot of places, in certain countries.)
Urinals in much of the world don't include a flush. It's probably more considerate of you to skip flushing the urinal.
Depends on where you are. They're quite common in Mexico although not universal.
Anyway, this reminds me of an old joke:
A doctor, a forester, and an old-time Mainer walked into a restroom and used the urinals.
Afterwards, the doctor walked over to the sink, and used copious amounts of soap, hot water and hand towels washing his hands. "At med school, they taught me the importance of making sure your hands are good and clean," he said.
The forester walked over to the sink, and washed his hands, using the barest minimum amount of towels to dry off. "At forestry school, they taught me the importance of conserving natural resources," he said.
The old timer walked straight out of the bathroom, saying as he went, "I graduated from East Millinocket Elementary school, and they taught me not to piss on my fingers."
You should also wash your hands before eating. And after laundry. And all manner of other things. It's just a particularly convenient prompt.
Source: I poop.
Source: I hate double-flushing toilets that are trying to save water, but always end up doing it. (I often also /pre/ flush on those low flow toilets because I'm not sure the water is sufficiently clean for splashback events.)
I don't think this article was designed with everyone in mind.