A chat with my neighbor's kid about pockets

I was sketching a new jacket design on my porch when the 10-year-old from next door asked what I was doing. She looked at my drawing and said, 'Why are the pockets so small? My hands don't fit in those.' It made me realize I've been designing for a look, not for actual use, for years. I spent the next hour just drawing different pocket shapes and sizes. Has anyone else had a simple comment completely shift how you approach a basic design element?

3 comments

3 Comments

kim9631mo ago

My old sewing teacher used to say, "Design for the hands that will use it, not the eyes that will see it." I made a pair of pants once where the front pockets were basically just flaps for show. My friend asked where she was supposed to put her keys. That tiny moment of confusion on her face changed everything for me. Now the first thing I check on any pattern is if a real hand can actually get in there.

lucaslee1mo ago

Watched my buddy who makes leather bags show his new line to his sister. She picked up a crossbody bag, tried to slide her phone in the side pocket, and it wouldn't fit. He just stared at it and said, "I measured my own phone case for that." He spent the whole weekend reworking every pocket pattern, making them deeper and adding a little extra width for different phone sizes. His whole new collection has these slightly bigger pockets now.

ruby_patel271mo ago

See, I get why he fixed it, but that's a tough spot. If you only design for the biggest phone case out there, you end up with bags that look bulky and floppy for everyone else. My phone is pretty slim, and I hate when pockets are so huge my stuff just falls to the bottom and gets lost. There's a balance, you know? Maybe a better fix is having a few standard pocket sizes for different bag styles, not just making everything bigger.