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UX Design Details: The Evolution of This Bit Holder
...and its remaining flaw
A company called Sorako makes these precision screwdriver sets. The aim was apparently to cram as many tools as possible into the tightest possible footprint.
Going over the company's materials, I was interested to see how the design of the bit holders evolved. In an earlier iteration of this set, the bit holders were deployed like this:
Fairly clumsy. In the next iteration, they added a spring-loaded button mechanism:
An improvement over the previous iteration, but a bit inelegant, and seems like the kind of thing that would break.
For the latest version, they've gone with a push-to-open approach:
The last one seems the best of the three, but I have a remaining UX gripe with the design:
The graphics that show you which bit is which, are printed on the face of the bit holders. Once you deploy them, they lean forward and obscure the graphics, particularly if you've got this at desk level. Oughtn't the graphics be printed behind the bits, and perpendicular to the user's eyeline? What say you?
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Comments
The stand appears to be designed less for portability and more as a benchtop organizer. In this case, it would appear that the "remaining" problem is that it is still being optimized to be average at everything - cramming as many bits and drivers into the smallest space, but making it hard to access what you want, and resulting in poor first order retrieval while demanding it be used for that job. The three iterations IMHO shows they tripled down on losing the forest for the trees.
From the screwdriver handle top pad print being tricky to read if this was on the back of a workbench, or in the top of current styled rolling tool boxes and not having visual access to the driver heads, including unnecessary hang holes on the handles where the space could be better utilized, to the bit holding appearing difficult to pinch grip them out of their slots, and even the need for their holders to be in an "open or closed" configuration, to the weight of the stand appearing to require holding it down to remove anything. Lots of remaining things to improve, so I suppose there is lots of opportunity to keep refining each release!
you can see him struggle to pull the bit from the holder in the second clip. This is the real problem with these things, they are insanely annoying to grab the tiny bits out of, not to mention when your hands are wet/greasy. the slightly extended versions like Milwaukee uses are much easier to grab.
I have always questioned the need for a diagram of the bit that is the same size or smaller then the actual bit in your hand. The text, yes. A diagram, meh.
Great point. Maybe it makes it easier to return the bit to its place in the holder.
Perhaps but, When I have more then one bit out, I just look for the holes and what is next to it.
The supposed purpose is so that if you take several bits at once, you can put them back the same way. But I'd argue that once they're inevitably put it the wrong place anyway, the icons become less than useful.