Door handles, an unnecessarily bad design

Have you pushed a door that should be pulled?

I sometimes run into a door, because I try to push it, but it only can be pulled. Or the opposite.

They know about this problem. They stick labels on the doors that tell us what to do. And I still get it wrong. So labels don’t solve the problem with misleading doors. Such doors are called Norman doors after Don Norman who discusses them as the very first problem in his book The Design of Everyday Things (ISBN 978-0-465-05065-9).

How to fix it

Don’t have handles that I need to grip. Have a flat plate for pushing, and a kind of flap for pulling.

If you need a lock and thus a lever handle, use other hints. For example if the door hangs visibly before the frame, I won’t try pushing it.

Fortunately, when lives are at stake, this is done right; emergency doors often have a horizontal bar that you push. Less stylish, but saves lives.