Pull-down shower diverter
Inspiration
When staying at a hotel, one common struggle is figuring out how to use the shower. Due to inconsistent and complicated designs of knobs, handles, shower heads, temperature controls, etc. one may encounter difficulties. This is the inspiration for my analysis of the pull-down shower diverter.
Good Aspects
- Simplicity: to turn on the shower head, one simply pulls down on the spout. The default setting is water running through the tub faucet, and after the shower is turned off, the spout returns to the default setting.
- Efficiency: even if the mechanism takes a while to learn the first time, after using the spout for a while, taking a shower like this becomes second-nature
Problems
- Learnability: This design has a lack of visual signifiers. There are no visible levers, switches, or appendages that display how to use the diverter. It's not obvious where the diverter is or how to use it. One has to experiment or have prior knowledge to realize the ring around the faucet is pullable.
- Unnatural Mapping: Additionally, the already existing natural mapping of shower diverters is to pull something up. This intuitively makes sense as the shower head is above the tub faucet. However, this diverter requires the opposite motion: pull something down.
- Ambiguity: Another fault of this design is the ambiguity of what setting the diverter is on: shower vs. tub. With other diverters such as the pull-up diverter (see figure below), it's very clear. This could possibly pose a safety issue as one could be blasted from the shower head unexpectedly.
Solution
My proposed solution is to simply revert to the old design of the pull-up shower diverter.
The visual signifiers are clear: when the knob at the top is lifted, the shower head is on and vice versa. The simplicity is maintained from the pull-down diverter; there is a single knob that can be pulled up or down. The main difference is the pull-up diverter is more obvious and intuitive, increasing usability.