Have you ever walked up to a door with a group of people and pushed when you were supposed to pull? Or pulled up to a drive-through and been confused about where to order and which window gives you your food? Or walked into a building and had no idea which direction reception was in?
Contrary to your friends' remarks, you're not an idiot! Instead, you were a victim. A victim of bad design.
(Fun fact: a door like this is called a Norman door, named after Don Norman, a cognitive scientist whose book The Design of Everyday Things is one long complaint about stuff like this. He was also the first person to have "User Experience" in his job title, at Apple in 1993.)
So why is it hard to notice?
Because it just does its job without drawing any extra attention. To me, a watch with a strap is good design. I don't notice it and it's straightforward to use. Every morning I put on my watch and it takes less than a few seconds.
Meanwhile, something that does draw my attention is my WHOOP band! The standard band the device comes with (the one in the image below) took me about 5 minutes to figure out. The puck can actually be forced in place both ways, and the metal case can rotate a full 360 degrees. Even after a few months of having one, it still takes me 15 seconds of focused attention to figure out how it all goes together.
The cost of good design
You don’t need big instructions, simpler layouts or to give up on aesthetics to have good design. You can have good design and still keep the look and the feeling the product gives you top of mind. For example, with the glass doors, you can put a flat metal plate on the side you push and a handle only on the side you pull, and nobody needs a sign.
This has actually been in the news. Car companies spent years moving everything onto big touchscreens because they look clean and modern. But when it starts pouring and you're digging through menus on a screen just to find the wipers, with your eyes off the road, it’s not so ideal. So since January 2026, Euro NCAP (the group that crash tests and safety rates cars in Europe) only gives a car 5 stars if it has physical controls for the indicators and hazard lights, the wipers, the horn and the SOS button! I'm personally a big fan of this!
What are some examples of good and bad design from your life?