Not Your Fault! Bad Doors are Everywhere.

Maybe you went in for a push on a pull door, or a pull for a push door, either way, somehow you were bested by an inanimate object. Confusing doors may be everywhere, but we have some good news, they are not your fault!

Don Norman started complaining about doors over 25 years ago. Doors shouldn't need instructions – the shape of them can guide you through just fine. So why do so many doors need instruction manuals right on the side of them?

When most people complain about something, nothing happens. Don Norman is not most people – he's a psychologist and cognitive scientist. Don Norman thought about, and wrote about his complaints so incredibly thoroughly that he changed the world. 99% Invisible's Roman Mars helps tell the story in following video:

As in my journey and obsession of building experiences in past 5 years, I get to learn so much about designs, specifically Dan Norman. He categorized the good designs in seven fundamental principles:

• Discoverability. It is possible to determine what actions are possible and what is current state of the device. Basically, if the user cannot find it, it does not exist. It must be made clear as a bell what actions are possible in a UI in less than a microsecond — for example, labeling icons as a best practice. Unlabeled icons are tantamount to throwing roadblocks into a user’s path because they’ll have to stop to decipher meaning. You’re interrupting the ‘flow.’ And here’s a shocker… they’re not interested in learning your UI.
• Feedback. There is full and continuous information about the results of actions and current state of product, device or service. After an action has been executed, it is easy to determine the new state. It also means constant visibility of system status, i.e., the system should make sure that: (a) Users are kept informed about what’s going on. (b) There is continuous information about the results of their actions and the current state of the product (system). (c) There is no confusion in the mind of a user as to the state of the product, i.e., processing, loading, searching, uploading, etc. or some other state change. (d) After an action has been executed, it’s easy to determine the new state.
• Conceptual model (aka mental model). The design projects all the information needed to create a good conceptual model of system, leading to understanding and a feeling of control for the user. The conceptual model enhances both discoverability and evaluation of results. Mental models are the images in a user’s mind that inform their expectation of a certain interaction and how something works in the real world. Conceptual models are internal representations of our physical environment, particularly associated with spatial relationships. By effectively using the user’s mental model, interaction designers can create systems that ‘feel’ intuitive.

The car seat setting in a Mercedes is a great example of an interaction design that uses a mental model. A car seat shape for controls makes it intuitively easy to understand and operate.

• Affordances. The proper affordance exist to make the desired action possible. An affordance is what an object can do. Yet what an object can do is only revealed by a user. Therefore an affordance is what an object can do based on a user interaction. An affordance can be obvious or hidden. A chair reveals its affordance by design, its shape mirrors the body and communicates its intent: to be sat on. Clearly an object’s affordance is not determined solely by design but by the way a user interacts with it. An object’s affordance is determined by user interaction. You can read about affordances and signifiers applicable in mobile apps in here but the overall affordances in a mobile app are:

• Signifiers. Effective use of signifiers ensures discoverability and feedback is well communicated and intelligible. A signifier clarifies an affordance, it illustrates or describes what an object can do. A signifier can be blatantly obvious or very subtle. Signifiers can be as obvious as a hand written sign taped to a door or as subtle as a texture or an audio cue. You can read about affordances and signifiers applicable in mobile apps in here.
• Mappings. The relationship between controls and their actions follows the principle of good mapping, enhanced as much as possible through spatial layout and temporal contiguity. Mapping is the relationship between controls and their effect in the world. The principle of feedback is a close cousin of mapping because the two principles work together to create a seamless experience. Nearly all artifacts need some kind of mapping between controls and effects — in the case of interface design, it’s the relationship between a control and its resulting function.
• Constrains. Providing physical, logical, semantic, and cultural constrains guides actions and eases interpretations. Constraints in design make sure only specific things are enabled, or even visible, in order to guide the user towards certain interactions. The opposite of constraint is when every option is offered to the user, making it difficult for them to decide what to do next. It’s the principle of choice. The more options, the more difficult it is to choose any one of them — we become overwhelmed by all the possibilities. Great interaction design doesn’t put every available option on the interface, but restricts it to what’s most important in any given moment.

Foursquare uses design constraints to limit available interactions and focus the user’s tasks

The more you get into concept of experience and design, it is going to be very easy to find faults. The key is to be able to do things better.

Don't criticize unless you can do better. Understand how the faulty design has happened and figure out how to do it otherwise.

Also for sake of happiness and less frustrations, please avoid having bad doors. If you are thinking of getting new doors, please follow this simple rule:

Or another simple illustration:

Next time you discover a hidden affordance or feel frustrated by an interface, don’t blame yourself, blame the affordance/signifier relationship and give feedback to product team.