Why do people push when the door says pull and why do people pull the door when the door says push?

Question

Why do people push when the door says pull and why do people pull the door when the door says push?

2 Answers

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Answer 1

There is a good book on the subject, titled ”The Design of Everyday Things” by Donald A. Norman. People develop expectations about how things are supposed to operate based on the appearance of those things. Push/pull doors often violate those expectations, so really don't work very well at all.

In the US, we have been trained by fire codes to expect doors to open outward. Doors perform the worst when their installation violates good design and violates fire code rules.

Answer 2

Lol - there are signs on the glass front doors of the building I work at that say Pull on the way in and Push for the way out.It always makes me laugh how people cannot master these basic instructions and last week this lady was yanking on the front door shouting let me in, why is this door locked ? Yeah right, try using your eyes first before wrecking the front door lol.It's like having a sign on the elevator saying Out of Order and there's always someone who presses the button lol.