Images of flies on a urinal = 80% less 'spillage' on the airport bathroom floor

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/business/08nudge.html

by tlrobinson • 17 years ago

41 25 17 years ago

tlrobinson• 17 years ago

(found via http://hiphopo.posterous.com/images-of-flies-on-a-bathroom)

pg• 17 years ago

I wondered about those. I thought some designer was just trying to be funny. (They give designers a lot more room in the Netherlands.)

ijntybvrt2• 17 years ago

It is also a joke, bee in latin is 'apis'

ryanwaggoner• 17 years ago

That's some gentle comedy.

Especially since they're flies, not bees ;)

zenocon• 17 years ago

I was also really curious about the fly. Although I have to say it seems to work. The floors definitely seemed cleaner.

jmatt• 17 years ago

This is a constructive use of, "choice architecture". I think these ideas have been around for awhile just in another form - as poor choice architecture in casinos.

moe2• 17 years ago

A fly? How boring, over here we have these: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31EZO1H5iFL._SL500_AA2...

mynameishere• 17 years ago

Combine that with a scorecard and "all time high scores" display and you could pretty much retire the janitor.

moe2• 17 years ago

Don't laugh, I have actually seen one in a club that played a crowd-cheering sound while you were hitting it! Wouldn't be surprised if there was a scoreboard version around somewhere...

For background: The ball actually moves when you hit it. It is attached to the main panel with a small plastic string. The one that made the sound probably had a simple "electronic greeting card"-like circuit board in it.

albertcardona• 17 years ago

I saw one of these in an Irish tavern in Ghent, Belgium. The beer-selling business knows about this!

gcheong• 17 years ago

I think this technique of giving one something to aim at is well known amongst the potty training crowd.

gravitycop• 17 years ago

http://www.goontarget.com

tired of constantly cleaning up spills around the toilet – want your boys – big and small – to be more accurate?

dreish• 17 years ago

I think this would be considered a clever real-world hack.

wenbert• 17 years ago

we have these in the waterless urinals in SM City Cebu :P

patio11• 17 years ago

There is a Japanese toilet company, whose name escapes me, which previously included a red dot in toilets to capture this advantage. Then, after extensive testing, they realized that the red dot was suboptimal because it encouraged people to shoot for the wall, and the wall of a toilet bowl is very close to things you do not want to get wet.

So they tested a new version, which turned out to be MUCH better: include a laser in the toilet bowl, and PROJECT a red dot on the surface of the water at a particular point in the bowl. (I would assume the geometric center but, hey, they're the experts).

My Google-fu is not turning up the article I read this in, which (I hazily remember) was English and probably in the New York Times.

Anyhow, this is one of my stock anecdotes on why Japanese engineering holds so much appeal to me. (Obsessive, fanatical attempts to squeeze more performance out of things. Its like Apple decided to launch a line of toilets or ceiling fans... except with a little less of an iCult around them.)

[Edit: found a mention of this sort of toilet innovation by Panasonic but it wasn't the article I was talking about, which covered the R&D process in more detail.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/panasonic-dl+gwn-toilet-s... ]

ricree• 17 years ago

Has anyone read the book they talk about in the article (http://www.amazon.com/Nudge-Improving-Decisions-Health-Happi... )? It has decent reviews and seems like it might be interesting, but I never seem to have as much reading time as I'd like, and I was hoping someone here could give me a heads up on if its any good.

martian• 17 years ago

Yeah, this is a great book. Evidently it is also on Obama's reading list.

The book talks about a few different ways to "nudge" people into the "best" behavior. One of the key points is that a default choice (for ANY consumer choice, whether health care, options on a car, or how to invest a 401k) is far and away the option most likely chosen. So the book's authors argue that it is the responsibility of politicians to help people make the right "default" choice.

One great example is a particularly nasty curve on a road -- Lake Shore Drive -- in Chicago. It's a major thoroughfare along Lake Michigan, and cars were always going too fast when they came up to a sharp curve in the road. After trying all sorts of "slow down" and "sharp curve" signs, city planners opted to paint lines on the road perpendicular to the flow of traffic. The lines were set at regular intervals, but near the curve the lines were painted closer together. This gave drivers the impression that they were going too fast, and caused them to subconsciously slow down. This dramatically improved the traffic flow on this particular stretch of Lake Shore Drive and reduced accidents and fatalities.

I won't comment on whether or not I agree with of all this book's theories, but it is well worth a read, and certainly shines some light on more subtle aspects of human decision making.

endtime• 17 years ago

So the book's authors argue that it is the responsibility of politicians to help people make the right "default" choice.

Jeez, can you say "slippery slope"?

joshwa• 17 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coand%C4%83_effect

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2450/urinal-101-aim...

http://ask.metafilter.com/8204/Urinal-Aiming#160007

gojomo• 17 years ago

I wonder if this design adds or detracts from aim:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gojomo/3267808953/

(It may be decades before News.YC has another thread where this photo is topical!)

dpifke• 17 years ago

I'm curious how they measured and came up with 80%.

KevBurnsJr• 17 years ago

also curious as to the scientific process for measurement of urine spillage.

electromagnetic• 17 years ago

Now if only this worked for those people who miss the toilet when taking a crap.

I have a solution to the problem, however I don't think there's a fecal floor sensor yet and I doubt people would go into a stall with a shotgun aimed at their head so I fear it wouldn't solve the problem but shift it to the shotgun-free stalls.

biohacker42• 17 years ago

Is is just me or does this "flies on a urinal" story make the rounds every 6 months or so?

Either that or I have way too much piss related content in my web surfing.

Images of flies on a urinal = 80% less 'spillage' on the airport bathroom floor

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