Make it hard for your customers to fail

First saw this being sent over twitter and thought: “Won't that design make dirt come into the lock?” Thought about that it should be up side down. However, that would require the lock to be put so that the key is entered up side down, to fit into the lock smoothly
Now, that wouldn't be very smart since people wouldn't know that the key should be entered up side down. How could that be fixed?

I dont get it….

What part don't you get?

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.

I completely agree. It was intended more as a metaphor for an approach than an endorsement of the product itself

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 saw this design in an old castle in Germany. Our tour guide described it a way to help guide peoples key to the lock when they had too much to drink.

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 !!

It can be upside down without rotating the key.
And yes, this is a genius invention!
Did any of you ever try to open the door while drunk?

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

By eliminating insurance companies and charging simple cash rates, I am able to drastically simply (and improve) the healthcare of my patients.

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.

The lock is every bit as hard to pick, because the tumblers are inside the barrel. All the groove does is guide the key into the groove. Picks don't use keys; ergo, no change in difficulty.

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.

Nice to see this conversation continuing! So what we are saying is that putting the lock upside down won't be a problem? The slide would probably give enough affordance to understand that.
What keeps me thinking is how do you really know what direction to turn the key? Some locks auto-lock, and you most often turn them clockwise (top towards the closest edge of the door) and the regular lock, that simply moves a metal block into the frame turn the other way.
Could there be a solution for this? Even more helping people from transforming into icecubes.

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.

Robust engineering promotes fail proof easy to use design. However as Ed says below the trade off is the loss of opportunity to hone one's skills

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.

I would like to see a sink hole version put on it side. Like a shallow funnel that flows into the hole. It would give more assistance to any direction of approach and put the lock further away from picking devices.

But, thats just one idea. Implementation is worth much more than an idea.

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

LOL
Ed, you are not a mom with an armful of babies and groceries! Neither am I, but my clients are…

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!

Wow! I wish they made something like that for prom night!

Cool !!!

They had this in medieval times already; this photo is taken in the Reichsburg Cochem shows such an example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanderhoorn/4995723609/

Whoa! That’s awesome. Thank you for sharing.

On Wednesday, April 27, 2011, Disqus

Food for thought.  When customers feel good while perusing your site, it definitely helps to put them in a buying mood.  It also makes them want to visit your site again and again. 

A suggestion might be to visit your competitor’s websites and pay attention.  Did something specific trigger your interest or make you warm up to their products?  If so, use a similar technique on your website.