A few years ago I blogged about my first encounter with a dual-flush toilet.
They are becoming more common, now.
Uppercut, by Sloan, is an interesting, if incomplete design solution. It retrofits into existing toilets. The green handle suggests to the flusher that something is different here. The iconics on the barrel indicate, somewhat, what will happen in different flushing directions. But they’ve also seen fit to provide “attractive instructional placards to educate the user [there's that phrase again] on proper operation” – UPfor #1 (Liquid Waste), DOWN for #2 (Solid Waste). The Sloan website also provides a customizable memo (.DOC) to help get the word out.
Any change of behavior, especially in such a habitual task, is going to be a challenge. Yet office memos about flushing the toilets belong with training meetings on using the new photocopier in the thundering hell of office life. It’d be interesting to investigate how all these cues (the memo, the green handle, the icon, the placard, the memo) work together (or not) to help people shift behavior (or not).
Any anecdotes to share about new office equipment, toilet memos, or so on? Leave a comment!
Tags: design, dual flush, educate the user, flush, icon, interface, sign, sloan, toilet, uppercut
, by Sloan, is an interesting, if incomplete design solution. It retrofits into existing toilets. The green handle suggests to the flusher that something is different here. UPfor #1 (Liquid Waste), DOWN for #2 (Solid Waste). Viaºportigal
Pingback by 71º | aristas del diseño | design edges | bilingual blog 01.30.08 @ 2:58 pmThe problem with the Uppercut is that no one uses their hands to flush a flushometer toilet. A flushometer is a toilet with a valve such as the one pictured about. Also, old toilet bowls are designed to flush on 1.6 gallons or more. If you install a valve such as this on an older bowl, not only will it perform poorly, but it is likely to require two full flushes. This valve must be installed on a newer bowl.
For real dual flush toilets, go to http://www.caromausa.com, the website for Caroma, the Australian company that invented the dual flush toilet.
Comment by Kurt Bramstedt 01.31.08 @ 6:44 pmDo do goes DOWN!
Comment by Nancy White 02.01.08 @ 5:45 pmUrine goes Up!
I think they did a nice job of communication.
Sloan knows people kick handles. Sloan knows it won’t be used correctly 100% of the time. It is a nice feature that gives the user the option to save water. I think its brilliant. Coroma is nice, but way way too expensive and not fit for public restrooms. I give Sloan a lot of credit for this innovation. check out the new one – takes the decision away from the user http://www.sloanecos.com
Comment by James 03.14.08 @ 12:27 pmJames is a “sockpuppet” – he’s posing as a regular person but it’s obvious to the blog owner that he’s posting from sloanvalve.com.
Lovely. Sloan may know handles but Sloan doesn’t know diddly about the Interwebs.
Comment by Steve Portigal 03.14.08 @ 1:51 pmSloan Knows Handles but diddly about the interwebs indeed!
Even so, The people at Sloan that came up with that I think are very talented and innovative.
While I may be part of the organization, I should have just stated that. My comments still valid even If sockpuppeted. Perhaps Sloan could benefit from your expertise?
From what I hear, and I’m removed a few times from sales, is that the green handle is doing very well in the market.
I won’t sockpuppit up your blog with any more company propganda.
Comment by James 03.25.08 @ 2:02 pm… and for the record, the other posting about the caroma toilet was made by Kurt who the blog owner should know is the Southwestern Business Delepment Manager for Caroma. Just keeping things even and balanced.
Comment by James 03.25.08 @ 2:06 pm[...] Sloan makes sockpuppets as well as valves A yahoo.com comment on a recent blog entry that tells us how smart Sloan is. But the originating site for the post revealed to be “sloanvalves.com.” Sigh. Today, at least, we DO know that you’re a dog. Very lame. [...]
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[...] “What Not to Wear” for digital technology, kiosks, and interactive signs What makes someone qualified to give advice about anything? Experience and knowledge.My main claim as an analyst (aside from the PhD, which only authorizes me in a narrow scope of the social sciences) is that I read a lot. I mean, a lot, and always in a wide range of sources, from academic books to what’s on the New York Times best seller list to magazines, web sites, promotional materials, archival matter (right now I’m working on advice columns in African American papers), and yes, even a few blogs. One of the few blogs I look at every day is Steve Portigal’s All This Chitta Chatta. Steve has experience and knowledge, but he’s also got an amazing eye, a true sense of the visual landscape, be it urban or rural, Southeast Asian or suburban America. His photographs tell you more than most feature length magazine articles. In terms of marketing and design, developing an acute visual eye is a critical tool, especially for folks in the digital signage and digital media industries. What distinguishes one product from another is often determined in a two-second glance.One continuing point of interest for Steve is the notion of post-design, fixing a product by adding something exterior to it to explain or enhance its original use. Sometimes people adapt to a new technology (I’m definitely getting used to the self-checkout at the supermarket). Sometimes the technology has to adapt to people. Often designers develop ways of solving an environmental problem – a door handle, a checkout line, a digital menu – and then some aspect of the finished product doesn’t work out as planned after taking it “live.” Post-design is when the user – or designer – has to adapt what exists to the realities of how people think and move through the world. Think about how many of us would crash into doors without the ubiquitous “push” or “pull” signs. My favorite example is of a toilet flusher that requires a posted explanation of how it works.In the world of kiosks and digital technology we’ve all seen versions of this: the most common is the taped-over swipe slot on a point-of-sale checkout, telling customers to hand their credit card to the clerk rather than swipe it themselves (even though the machine is designed for that!). People with long fingernails, people who don’t see or use the stylus, and people with, well, slippery fingers, often complain about different aspects of touchscreen technology. And then, of course, there’s the smart clerk who discovered that the wax paper used for picking up bagels and doughnuts works great on credit cards with hard-to-read swipe stripes. These aren’t all problems that can be fixed by design, but they do present interesting issues to consider.This week Steve highlighted a new version of post-design: a Chili’s interactive menu with touch-screen technology has a static sign added to explain to the customer exactly how to use the touch screen. I wonder if the designers saw the separate sign as temporary, until customers adapt to using the digital menu more readily. Or, perhaps, it was too costly to integrate the new directions into the existing terminal.While there’s nothing inherently wrong with having to develop designs post-implementation, it strikes me that the kiosk and digital signage industry needs its own version of “What Not to Wear” – like the do’s and don’ts fashion column that shows real people in real outfits walking down the street, looking extremely sharp or completely off, developers and designers in new technologies need to share what they see in terms of real life usage. While we can laugh at the truly ugly adaptations, it’s also important for such a quickly changing industry to develop an archive of design development.Feel free to send me your examples: photos preferred, of course. Posted by Annie at 7:54 PM [...]
Pingback by Interactive Kiosk News: "What Not to Wear" for digital technology, kiosks, and interactive signs 06.28.08 @ 8:26 pmYes, I work for Caroma. But if you want a dual flush toilet, go to the creator of the product, Caroma. Caroma invented the dual flsuh toilet 22 years ago. They make more high efficiency toilets than any other manufacturer and they are the only dual flush toilet whose half flush of .8 gallon flushes better than many other manufacturers full flush. Thety are the only company to only make HET’s and the only company to test their toilets on the half flush. Plus they do not clog as they have a trap size of 3.5″ or larger, which is far bigger than any other company.
James, if you think we are too high priced, how come we get all the toilet swap-out and direct install programs. Jaames, say hi to Paul for me.
Comment by Kurt 10.25.08 @ 4:53 pm[...] found a toilet flusher that comes with a memo, I investigate the bathroom for Core77, and Dan gets trapped in the [...]
Pingback by All This ChittahChattah » All This ChittahChattah 2008, a look back 12.26.08 @ 8:17 am[...] post is not about the green handle and sign All This Chittah Chattah said it very well here. This photo is from there [...]
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