Option EHuman Factors Design

Human Factors Design E.1.1

E.1.1 Identify the objectives of human factors design

• All designers of products that will be used by, or come into contact with human beings have to consider anthropometrics and ergonomics. Graphic products are no exception.

• “Human factors engineering is a user-centered design process. When devising a product, designers should research how different individuals use or might use the product in its various associated environments.”

• Anthropometrics is the measurement of the human body. It covers everything from the average length and diameter of an adult female’s index finger, through to the size of font that may easily read in daylight from a distance of 2 meters. 

• It involves measuring the senses and abilities, as well as the physical dimensions of able and disabled humans of both sexes and of all ages

• Ergonomics is the use of this data to help design better and safer products.

The Responsibility of the Designer• The designer, by instigating technological

change, is implicated in the resultant social consequences. Commonly these are seen as unexpected or unwanted effects arising from a new product, technique or system.

• Designers use a wide range of strategies to solve design problems and these include: • Brainstorming • User trips • Observing user behaviour• User response• Literature (Information) searches• Expert appraisal• Performance test

• Design is a product of imaginative thinking and problem solving, and is often the means by which new information or understanding can be discovered and used. Some designers draw, some do not; some use calculation, others do not; and a great number of designers think with their hands, designing as they go along. 

• There are four main parties to the product development process:

• The client• The designer• The maker • The user

• Usually, the client sets the objectives for the project, or provides the brief. The designer must work to transform the brief from a product idea to a sufficiently detailed specific product proposal to allow the maker to carry out the next stage and deliver the product to the user. 

• The division of the roles of the client and user relates to the organization of a society based on mass-manufacture. Economies of scale are made possible by large production quantities, aimed at a large population of users. Companies are organized to produce goods and distribute them to the users. Some individuals within the company act as clients, providing the design brief because of formal market research or an insight believed to represent market trends.

• The designers may be on the company staff or working for a design consultancy; similarly the manufacturing might be undertaken by the company itself or sub contracted to another company.

• The efficient operation of the total operation depends on accurate communication of information between these performing the four roles. Communication and information lie at the heart of modern industrial society. The designers’ role is to interpret the clients brief and provide a definition of the product specification to be passed to the maker, but their activities and influence extend further than these boundaries.

• If the client has little more than a general awareness of an area of difficulty, the designer must start by conducting a search, through negotiation with the client to develop a more precise statement of the need; this will require good communication and analytical skills.

• Similar skills will be needed to communicate with the maker, to explain the final design and discuss the manufacturing route to be taken. The designers function is a link role between the project management and the manufacturers. Unless they work for themselves, designers must be good communicators through a variety of media: informal and formal drawings, written and spoken language, project presentation and displays

Task

• Identify the main objectives of human factors design, list them below and explain each of them briefly

Links

• http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/tfhrc/safety/pubs/96142/96142.html

• http://www.peel-design.com/• http://www.utilimaster.com/articles/human_factor.htm• http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/jan00/monk.htm• http://www.eurocontrol.int/eec/public/standard_page/h

uman_factors_case.html• http://www.aviation.uiuc.edu/institute/acadProg/epjp/

humFacsites/hotlist.html• http://www.wiskit.com/hf/lessons.html• http://delphi.com/manufacturers/contract/difference/

resources/design/• http://www.devicelink.com/mddi/archive/

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