Make it hard for your customers to fail

I dont get it….

Personally I am not a fan of the saying “if it ain't broke don't fix it” because you should always strive to make improvements. I appreciate the effort here, but it didn't seem intuitive to me.

I would be curious to see how such a concept would fare in a usability test. Just because something seems cool and innovative, doesn't mean it actually is. And we won't know the real answer until it's put to the test.

Those were my thoughts, too, along with water being funneled into it. But I see no problem with having the “easy entry” option being from below. It's no less intuitive.

I think that lock design is genius!! I've seen many older adults have some difficulty navigating a key into the proper position to unlock a door. This design would make it so much easier for them. Thanks !!

If anything, the lock is now more easy to pick…The metaphor still holds though I guess.

Not so clever. The only people I believe should use the one are really old citizens who may have coordination troubles by the age. And furthermore, it should be contraindicated for children because they have to be trained on skills of accuracy. Making the life easier doesn't mean making the nation of dumbs.

Complete non-issue. My bicycle lock has an upside down keyhole on it, and it took me only a few minutes worth of practice to get used to it. I've also lived in houses with upside-down tumblers as well. Really, it's not a big deal.

Getting the key into the damn hole — that's more difficult, particularly if you've four bags of groceries in your arms and can't directly observe the thing, it's snowing outside, and all that's on your mind is getting inside the house before you become an icecube.

I love that this conversation (that started about a metaphor) is still going on and is focused more on the industrial design of the product

The gathering dirt is an interesting observation. Do we think that would be a big enough problem? My hunch is no. Also, I personally think that if the lock were upside down it wouldn't be as easy to use.

My first thought on seeing this was also that it'd be really easy to pick… It's hard to tell from the picture whether the key's bitting is facing up or down. If it's up, the key would have to be longer than your standard key. If it's down, it should still be longer, but it could be the normal length. If it's down and the normal length, this would be extraordinarily easy to pick because you'd actually be able to see the pins. And even if the key is longer so the pins can be hidden, this would still give you a lot more room for pick or rake and would make it easier to keep the torque wrench out of the way.

In any case, from an experience perspective it's probably most like those non-child-proof caps they give to elderly people for their pill bottles… sacrificing unneeded security for very needed accessibility. Maybe not a universal need, but a compelling one in specific instances.

this is not new, I was traveling through Gottingen, Germany and they have a similar system from the medieval times

I think it's worth trying, and I personally think it being upside down makes more sense. When I get my keys out they come from my pocket, which is low, and they move upward towards their target (door, lock, etc.) I do think dirt would be a problem depending on the area you're in and the elements it gets exposed to. I also think it would be cool to see an all around funnel type of idea although it seems harder to implement. Fun stuff!

Cool !!!