Ergonomics crash course for interaction designers

Monday, February 09, 2009

An excellent crash course on physical ergonomics aimed at interaction designers, on the Designing for Humans weblog by Rob Tannen:

On a side note: somehow, in the design community, the word 'ergonomics' has become synonymous with 'physical ergonomics'. However, I think ergonomics is about creating a good fit between people and their surroundings, which extends beyond just the physical aspects. Or as the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) puts it:

a holistic approach in which considerations of physical, cognitive, social, organizational, environmental and other relevant factors are taken into account.

That being said, the more designers take physical ergonomics into account, the better.

[Illustration: Designing for Humans]

2 reactions:

robtannen said...: Just to clarify - the articles are aimed at INTERACTION not INDUSTRIAL designers ("Ergonomics for Interaction Designers"). When you're talking about interaction design, ergonomics becomes much more distinctive; 6:50 PM
Jasper (uselog.com) said...: Whoops, in my coffee-induced morning haze I've been (very consistently) mixing up industrial and interaction designers. My apologies, I've corrected the post: the title now is 'ergonomics for interaction designers', as intended. Thanks for pointing it out Rob.; 7:22 PM