The first handle was beautiful in the tray. It had a thin stem, a good weight and the sort of finish that makes everyone in a meeting nod. On the actual door it became a small mirror facing a dark hallway. At night it disappeared.
The second was longer and easier to find. It also caught the sleeve of every coat passing through. The client discovered this before we did, which is usually how these discoveries happen.
The third sample cost less
It was a plain, rounded lever in unlacquered brass. Nobody chose it in the first meeting because it looked too ordinary. After a week fixed temporarily to the door, nobody wanted to give it back.
The decision took three weeks because we were choosing an object, not an interaction. The handle is touched before the room is seen. It is used with shopping bags, wet hands and the elbow of someone carrying a sleeping child.
What changed in the drawing
The final position moved 35 mm lower than our usual setting. That was not universal ergonomics; it was the height that suited the people who live there. We marked it on site, with tape, and asked everyone to try it.
The lesson is now in the project checklist: a hardware sample must spend a week on the actual door. Not on a table. Not in a presentation box.