Haha.

So today I found out about the term Norman door, which refers to any door that is confusing to use. Or, in a broader context, it refers to any item/product that has a design element that does not make it clear how that item/product should be used.

It is named after Don Norman, who states in his book The Design of Everyday Things that:

“The design of the door should indicate how to work it without any need for signs, certainly without any need for trial and error.”

A vid:

The doors in the math building fall under the term “Norman doors.” Some of them have “push” or “pull” on them, but half of them don’t and it is definitely not clear what you should do with those. I still screw it up sometimes, haha.

I feel like I knew there was a name for this kind of thing, but didn’t know the name itself. Interesting!

Also:

(Not really a Norman door with that handle, but this is what came to mind when I was reading about this, haha.)