Let's do something a little different: I want to jump out of the file and talk about the user experience of everyday life.

Think about a time when you've attended a house party or gathering with over ten people in attendance. You go to the use the bathroom, either for a bio break or to just wash your hands before eating something. The bathroom is clean and it smells pretty! You then go to dry your hands...

And the towel is soaking wet.

Such a feeling induces a physical cringe.

My fiancé and I recently moved into our first home together. He and I have a goal of having an aesthetic yet hospitable home. We do not want to make guests physically cringe.

I thought about it from a design perspective (though I didn't realize I had done this until well after the fact): I have a user problem. How do I fix it?

First, I thought about the act of hand drying, what ways exist to do so, and compare how feasible these options aret:

  1. Towels
    1. Reusable
      1. Regular (stays wet)
      2. Quick drying (expensive)
    2. Disposable (wasteful)
  2. Hand dryer (lol that's not happening)

Regular towels is still the best and cost effective option. If the only pitfall is that they stay wet, we need to ensure that whenever someone uses the bathroom, she is always the first person to use the hand towel. How do we do that?

Hella towels and a used towels basket

💰
If you love saving money, I highly encourage a Costco membership. If you're in the vicinity of a Costco Business Center, consider yourself doubly lucky and bask in the savings.

Individual towels. We picked up a pack of cotton towels, rolled them up, and encouraged one time use towels. I'll admit, it's a little extra, but it's always met with gratitude for considering the "ick" situation. Maintenance isn't difficult either since we're already doing a separate laundry load for towels.

Thanks for listening to my silly Ted talk. I hope it inspires other ways to optimize UX in simple daily activities. ☺️

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