Usability - Sewing

Usability and Sewing!!! What has Usability got to do with dressmaking, tacking and sewing..
I would have never speculated on this until last week when I had to tailor something that had been lying around unstitched for a long time. Here are some thoughts -

• I picked up the needle to sew and painstakingly tried to pass the thread through the eye of the needle. I then wet the thread and tried again. It took me minutes to only get the thread through. It then occured to me, 'We've gone to the moon, for goodness sake, why can't we have better needles'.
  
  Now lets look at how a Usability expert apprehends this stumper and construes a solution -

This design is innovative and now a needle can be threaded even by my grandma.

• Next, I sat down to start the stitching activity. Oh, there was not enough light. I had to take the stitching machine closer to where there was light in the room. Did it help? Not much!! Infact light was behind and my shadow came in between me and the cloth.
  
  Now again look at this subservient design which handles this problem amply well
  
  

You no more need to move the machine to where light is!!

And now one of my favourite video that talks about contented sewing experience!!

Yes, usability is an important component of Sewing.
Happy sewing to all Sewing aficionados!!

Redesigning

When overhauling a User Interface, what do you think are the most critical bits of information!!

Listed down are some things that I consider as the list of 'you should know'. These may not necessarily be in an order of priority -
- Know what your users are fond of - Have you checked with the users what they like. If you haven't, you are likely to get into trouble (and complaints!!). Ash has got so used to seeing her 'best friend' list on top right and you as a Designer think that this is the most blindspottish area and hence the friend list should not be there...You go forth and remove it from there. What do you think Ash will experience when she logs in again??
- Know what the user hates - Johny can never remember how to edit his profile. Everytime, he wants to do it, its a hit and trial. Its imperative for you as a designer to know this.
- Know what users can never figure out - Users can love or hate only things they know. There may be (many) things they have not even figured out. Its important to know these as well. A feature not being used may not essentially mean that users don't like it. It could also mean that users would have esteemed it only if they knew that it was there!!
- Know the less visited areas - Some areas are less visited than others. These are like murky nooks in a park where you do not venture out. Its an incognito turf that you do not want to explore. Know what users do not find visceral and hence never visit.
- Expose the most visited areas - If there are posts / articles / tweets that are very popular, show them to the world. Its no point hiding George Clooney behind a closet.

Listed above are some things that I have always kept in mind when redesigning. Feel free to add to this list. Would love to hear from others.