The first thing that came to mind when redesigning a part, or a function of YouTube, was to think not only about what YouTube can do for you, but what you do while using YouTube. I personally am big on multitasking, and I am constantly listening to music while doing so, however because I like to multitask and my phone is my tool for music, YouTube has never been my go to source. I put myself and a few others I asked into the mental model to come up with a way to make it that go to source. I wanted the user to be able to browse the internet, or other apps, while also running YouTube. Thusly the ribbon was born.
I think that many other programmers mental model would be similar because it really dives into the situation centered approach to designing something. YouTube is an amazing platform and is being underused because of its limitations. When you limit the way your users can use your product or what they can do while using their product, you then simultaneously lose users of your product. I personally believe that I or any designer would agree that the most important aspect of any design is the usability of that design, and the only way to improve it is thinking about the user, from many different aspects.
I would agree that usability is incredibly important. Two other "God words" in HCI are "usefulness" and "desirability". Keeping those qualities in mind while designing can be incredibly helpful.
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