E2_1_5

Option EHuman Factors Design : 

Option EHuman Factors Design Human Factors Design E.2.1 – E.2.5

E.2.1 Explain user population : 

E.2.1 Explain user population A group of people who are or potentially are the users of a particular product And that you are going to design for E.g. www user population – the users of the world wide web Designing for users, who are the prime users of our products, is it a large cross-section of the public (using a mobile phone), or a small group of highly trained specialists (flying a fighter jet).

Slide 3: 

The ‘users’ can include a wide variety of people – not just the final purchasers or consumers of a product. The ‘user population’ can include all those who interact with a particular product including those who make, assemble, purchase, and repair it, as well as those who operate it. The examples also reveal that many designs do not work well in use because the presence of the user is not strongly represented during design. The designer is subject to many, often conflicting pressures that require trade-offs to be made between users' needs and other factors.

Task : 

Task Suggest why China’s mobile internet user population has grown 113% in 2008

E.2.2 Outline how large user groups may be defined : 

E.2.2 Outline how large user groups may be defined A constant problem for the designer of mass products is the conflict between designing for as wide a variety of people as possible and for the manufacturer keeping the production costs down. If you consider the age, gender and physical conditions of user groups it is possible to design specifically for that market. How large is large?

Slide 6: 

For example if we look at the Year 7 pupils at school, average age 11 years old, of the 180 pupils there are a range of heights, if we took just on teaching group randomly, we might find that the average height is different to that of the whole year group. If instead we examined the height of all school children age 11 attending all ESF schools the sample would be larger, over 1000 pupils and you would see a similar distribution of heights, that is to say that there would be a greater number of people around the middle or average in their height.

Slide 7: 

The information could be analyzed and used in a number of ways to show comparisons and differences. Gender: Boys & Girls Ethnicity: Chinese & Western & Others How would this information effect the redesign of the food technology room for example, or the computer workstations in the graphics room.

Task : 

Task Use the link below to the Open University site. Work through Chapter 2 People-centred designing http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=159805 Watch the videos Suggest three reasons why each product might be considered user friendly or not LED headlight/torch Deck chair Sticky tape dispenser

E.2.3 Outline the importance of sampling information about potential users : 

E.2.3 Outline the importance of sampling information about potential users Use the above heading with the sweet/candy survey on the website www.msc-technology.wikispces.com. Consider the sample: size, ethnicity, age, gender, etc. How important is this information? Are all the factors considered? E.2.4 Describe how a user group sample is based on factors considered in E.2.2 E.2.4 Discuss how the factors in E.2.2 are further defined to determine the exact nature of a user group

Links : 

Links http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=159803 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/14/content_10654766.htm http://pewresearch.org/pubs/537/china-online http://www.usernomics.com/news/2006/01/rosy-outlook-for-gadgets-for-elderly.html www.msc-technology.wikispces.com