The worst user interface I have ever used would be the hand dryer one finds in all mens rest rooms. I am talking about the ones that automatically senses hand movement and gets switched ON.
Whats wrong with it?
- I think it doesn’t do its job. No matter how long you put your hands under it, hot air just doesn’t dry your hands in a few seconds.
- It never properly senses if your hand is there. It randomly gets switched ON if someone walks past it more often than when someone actually wants it to get working.
- It takes in a lot of power and is just too loud. You can hear a hand dryer sound all the way across the hall.
Why did it turn out the way it did?
Simple. The designers just didn’t think much about its use. It seems rather a silly idea. They have just put something right there and hoped it would work. But sadly, it serve its purpose.
How could it have been made better?
Have a blade like air flow. Make the user put his hands in and out of a space where blades of air flows parallel to the ground at high speed. This need not be hot air. Just air at fast speed. This makes it better because,
- High speed air takes away the water drops on one’s hands better.
- Much less power as the air needn’t be heated.
- Lesser noise as it is blades of air rather than a big burst of air.
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