Wednesday, 5 October 2011

PUSH OR PULL?

Alright, this might sound like a bit of a fussy one, but I've often
gone to push or pull a door only to find that it involved using the
other action for me to walk through. Very frustrating!

When we move to open a door we look for signs as to which direction it
should be opened, a handle, a bar or even a simple plate. They are
usually located in the right spot so I've got not qualms with that -
if the door was to open in a clockwise, right arc the handle is
located on the left. All good. My issue is with the handle design.
When a door has a nice, matte finished steel handle bar in a verticle
orientation one would generally pick up on the signs the door is
providing and react with a pull motion. And get stuck. It happens time
and time again, where a push action is required and the designer has
specified a handle that indicates otherwise.

On a similar note, bars that span the entire width of the door in
diagonal or horizontal direction. These give no indication as to
whether the door opens to the left or right. Look at the second image
above, which side would you push on?

Handles, plates and bars are such a simple detailing in the overall
scheme of the building and are often less well thought through. We
have beautifully designed interior finishing products but by simply
installing it in the wrong place users can over look their aesthetic
appeal and instead become frustrated with the functionality of it. All
in all, you're generally only saving a few milliseconds of time by
using the correct motion and only have a passing sense of frustration,
but still something that is quite easily and simply avoided.

Steph Tan

3 comments:

  1. Very interesting Steph, I agree with you and would prefer to have a communion between handles and signs to form a type of directional handle, but I think I can understand where this door is coming from.

    Firstly the designers would have enjoyed the idea of mass production of parts, so they can have the same handle on both sides of the door. With the signs a cheap method to indicate which way the door go's.

    Also, say the two doors are open in the first image you posted, how do you go about closing them? Do you use the edge of the door, or do you use the handle in a pulling action? The designers would probably like you to use the handle for this purpose, giving a sense of "professionalism" or refined "functionality" to the door.

    Nicholas Avery

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  2. To answer your question; for that second image I would push in the middle of the door. Or, if I was feeling like I need that extra bit of leverage, I might look at which side the hinges were on and push on the opposite side. A hindrance I agree.

    Sam

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  3. It doesn't help that 'Push' and 'Pull' are 50% alike. That's why we often find ourselves misreading these labels. And hence, find ourselves pulling on push doors.

    Nick, most push/pull doors close automatically and rarely remain open. It's more natural to let the natural momentum of the door close itself. Door's that require a pulling action to close them are not usually labeled with push/pull. Also, door handles, bars and plates are usually not specifically designed or manufactured, and are purchased instead. I'm sure there are plenty of manufacturers of door plates and that sloppy designers are just choosing not to use them.

    Also, I work in a hotel where our heavy back-of-house doors for a certain period of time were fixed with slender door handles. Every time I had to push these doors open, I could feel the handles painfully digging into my palms. furthermore, these handles on these self-closing doors became a hindrance when we had to push big trolleys through the doorway. Unsurprisingly, these handles were replaced with door-plates no long after. Not only do the communication of door plates are better, they are often more functional too.

    -Phi Do

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