Design & Emotion Blog

This urinal design is a great example of design with emotional impact.

Meike van Schendel, a Dutch designer, designed this urinal to make bathrooms into statements of character. Its sensual design would be expected to evoke very positive emotions and to be seen as a great “something else” next to the boring urinals of today.

Who could have expected that this urinal would be the subject of heavy debate in New York city. A mob of angry women protested at city hall agains the installation of sexy urinals at JFK Airport. CNN broadcasted the protest and The New York Post wrote an article.

The reason for all of these people going to city hall to protest was a very different interpretation of the sexy urinal from what the designer and many others had. They thought it would elicit positive emotions and laughter seeing such a funny urinal. The reality for the mob was that they felt disgusted by the sight of it; it reminded them of a sexual act and therefore they saw it as a sexually provocative object.