Public Toilet User Interface Design

On Monday, my company invited all employees for dinner and some drinks, since the holidays are near and the year is about to end. Everything was nice, and we sat and talked until about ten o’clock in the evening. After we leaved, I headed down to Cologne main station to catch my train, when suddenly I noticed I needed to go to the toilet - desperately! That's were the trouble began.

When arriving at the station I quickly spotted the first signs and they friendly guided me to the toilet. Well, no. They quickly guided me near the toilet and then suddenly disappeared. I looked around: A pub, another pub, and - ah! - yet another pub. But where is the toilet?

It took me a minute to figure out. The toilets where hidden beneath a semi transparent door with two translucent icons printed on it: A male and a female, actually. A neon sign told me that I’m about to enter the kingdom of “McClean”.

I had no time to lose, so I stepped in. However, to my surprise I didn’t found myself in the toilet but inside another corridor, which I headed down towards another semi-transparent door. I did this rather fast, since the pressure was growing. Suddenly I noticed a barrier to the right. I had nearly passed it without seeing it. One of these barriers they have in Paris Metro. You throw in some money, it unlocks and you may pass.

The barrier showed a male icon and a price: 1.10 Euros. Hell, 1.10 Euros is quite expensive, I though, nevertheless my desire had to be fulfilled, so I started to search my pockets for coins, but came out only with some 70 cents. OK, this may be the right time to panic.

Well, there was this other guy, and he obviously was in the same situation than I was. We looked at each other and then both jumped across the barrier, when a voice came from behind us: “Hey, what the f… are you doing?” I turned around and saw a woman sitting behind a counter hidden inside the opposite wall. “I ain’t got no fricking 1.10 Euros”, I told here showing my coins. She took the money, counted it and said “But that’s enough”, pointing me to another barrier right next to the one I just crossed illegally. That one stated “Urinals” and “60 Cent”. I threw in the money, passed, and finally was able to do for what I came here.

When sitting in the train to the part of Cologne where I live, I started to think about what happened. Obviously, the toilet designer did a poor job, not having the user’s expectations in mind. Since the woman working there seems to be used to situations like the one I was in, it seems, this happens quite often. Here’s a quick summary of the basic mistakes:

• The toilet was labeled “McClean” instead of “Toilet” or “WC”.
• The icons where applied on the door with literally no contrast.
• Entering the toilet you find yourself within a floor where the only thing you see without taking the time to look around is another entrance. People using public toilets usually don’t have time to look around, since they have an urgent desire.
• There are two toilets for men (urinals and WC’s), with two entries instead of one.
• A person that can help is hidden behind a counter inside the wall.

It would be quite simple to make this place more users friendly:

• Put black icons on the entrance doors and label them “Exit” from the inside.
• Apply the following signs on the ceiling pointing the visitors to the right direction: Male WC, Male urinal, Female WC and – most import – an icon “Information” guiding you to the counter.
• Place a description on the male barriers telling people that there actually are two entrances.

1.10 Euro is quite a lot of money for using a toilet, so we can expect something better, can’t we?