Marketing ergonomics to industrial designers

Abstract

This paper reviews the relationship betweenergonomicsand industrial designbased on papers presented at the ‘Marketing Ergonomics’ conference. The discussion is organized under the sections:

know your user,

what should we influence?

use of basic data and information,

research methods and techniques,

concluding remarks.

The main conclusions are that the effective application of ergonomics willdepend on the ergonomist being an active participant in the design process. The ergonomists must also see their role in strategic terms in relation to the objectiveof synthesizingappropriate designsolutions. The demand that high levelsof usability are designed into products must be placed on the design process as much as on the individual designer.It is argued that influencingthe attitudes and skillsof individual designers is necessary but not sufficient to ensure that ergonomics issues receive appropriate attention during product development.

Keywords:

• Industrial design
• Design process.