Usability is not everything

Is usability linked to functionality? The less functional an object, the worse its usability?

Like earrings. They are the absolute worst. I don’t know how other people put them in, but it’s damn near impossible to do by yourself.

Pushing a slippery piece of metal through a tiny hole in your ear. And attaching the back, all by touch. Sweaty fingers and minuscule parts don’t make a good combination.

Of course clip-on earrings exist. Someone tried to improve the usability. But in doing so, they destroyed the whole concept of the earring. Clip-on earrings are like clip-on ties. They may look like the real thing, but they’re not.

Maybe some products aren’t meant to have good usability.

--

--

Designer & Dad

Get the Medium app

A button that says 'Download on the App Store', and if clicked it will lead you to the iOS App store
A button that says 'Get it on, Google Play', and if clicked it will lead you to the Google Play store