Architects and designers work hard to make spaces feel welcoming and easy to navigate. However, one of the most critical touchpoints in any building is often where user experience falls short: the restroom.
Poorly-designed restrooms are more than a minor inconvenience; rather, for many, they’re a significant barrier that impacts their ability to work, shop, or socialize, making it a direct challenge to business success. Consider this: recent research found that 59 per cent of Canadians contend with a physical or cognitive challenge that impacts their experiences in public restrooms, such as those sensitive to loud noises coming from air dryers or people with limited mobility who struggle to use dispensers. For this majority, a standard restroom can be a source of anxiety, not relief. When a potential customer or employee feels they cannot confidently use a building’s most essential amenity, their ability to engage with that space is fundamentally broken. They may shorten their visit, limit food and drink purchases, avoid the venue in the future, or share their negative experience with others.
The opportunity for designers is straightforward: when restrooms read as clean, private, and cared for, people relax. They stay longer. They come back. Think of the following as a three-step guide you can adapt to any public restroom program, from arenas and museums to offices and restaurants.
Step 1: Remove the friction people quietly fight
Most public restroom problems are invisible in drawings but more obvious in use. That’s because people constantly scan for contamination cues — overflowing bins, wet handles, exposed supplies — and when the space doesn’t reassure them, they improvise “solutions” that create even more mess. The answer is to design out the friction before it starts – here are some ways you can do that.
- Protect the essentials so they stay clean and available: Enclose toilet paper and paper towels in durable dispensers so they aren’t touched or splashed, and ensure high capacity so you don’t run out at busy times. Put a trash bin inside every stall and another near toilets so waste doesn’t end up on the floor or stuffed into fixtures.
- Reduce unnecessary touch and drips: Make the wash sequence touch-free from soap to water to drying. If your exit door pulls outward, place a large bin nearby so people who use a towel to open it have a clear place to toss it.
When basics such as protected essentials or no-touch sequences are handled, users stop improvising. Messes decrease, the space reads as safe, and the cleaning team’s job gets easier.
Step 2: Put the “rest” back in restroom
Privacy and calm are what many conventional layouts miss. Harsh light, strong odours, loud noises, and those all-too-familiar stall gaps make people feel exposed. Design can restore dignity and ease. Here are some ideas to consider:
- Create a gentle threshold and better flow: Design entries that block direct views while staying open and welcoming. Inside, separate where people wash from where they exit to reduce crowding, splashing, and awkward cross-traffic at busy times.
- Make privacy obvious and reliable: Use full-height partitions where possible, or add privacy gap covers to eliminate visible door and panel gaps. Choose stall locks that clearly signal “occupied,” and install substantial dividers at urinals to increase comfort and reduce avoidance.
- Enhance sensory comforts: Swap harsh glare for softer, more welcoming illumination at stalls and mirrors. Treat odour as a design priority: good exhaust and a light, consistent fragrance beat strong, periodic bursts every time. And choose materials that feel warm and cleanable, gentle on skin and to the eye.
Step 3: Show that the space is cared for
Even the best layout can fall flat if users aren’t sure whether the space is truly maintained. Clear, friendly communication builds trust and guides behavior, and a few operational choices make cleanliness visible without shouting about it. The aim is to make people feel the space is actively looked after and that their experience matters.
- Speak in your brand’s voice, not in generic warnings: Post “Hygiene Best Practices” in plain, simple language, and extend graphics into the restroom so it feels like part of the same story. If you offer specific features, like sharps disposal, ablution fixtures, or family rooms, label them clearly so people understand what’s available. For examples of what this type of signage can look like, check out the Inclusive Hygiene Playbook recently published by experts at Tork.
- Make maintenance visible and responsive: A small, visible note about cleaning frequency reassures people that standards are consistent. Behind the scenes, tools that alert staff before refills run out or traffic spikes help shift from fixed rounds to targeted cleaning, resulting in fewer outages, faster fixes, and a quieter complaint log.
- Acknowledge the people who keep it clean: A nod to custodial staff signals pride and standards, and users often respond in kind, treating the space with more respect. When people can see that a restroom is actively looked after, confidence rises and complaints fall.
Making the case to clients
Design choices in restrooms show up in user behaviour and in operations. When essentials are protected and available, when privacy and calm are obvious, and when care is clearly communicated, people don’t rush or avoid. They linger a little longer in a museum, stay for dessert, or feel more comfortable returning to the office. On the operations side, fewer outages and clearer priorities mean less time spent chasing problems and more time spent maintaining a standard. For owners, that translates into fewer negative reviews, more return visits, and better use of staff time.
Restroom design is rarely the headline of a project, but it’s often what people remember most. Creating and maintaining a welcoming space in the restroom doesn’t require a total retrofit. It asks for attention to the details people actually notice and remember. Get those right, and the restroom stops being an afterthought that undermines the experience and becomes a touchpoint that reinforces it.
Katrin Ferge is Regional Manager, Commercial at Tork, an Essity Brand.
