Abstract
There are many points of contact—and today of integration—between the theoretical and methodological approach of Design and the approach of ergonomics and, in particular, the Human-Centred Design/User Experience. First, the centrality of the user—or rather the centrality of the person—in the process of designing and developing the product or system, is the main point of contact both from an ethical point of view, starting from the same definitions of Ergonomics and Design, which from a methodological and operational point of view. Design and ergonomics also operate more on the level of problem solving than in abstract theoretical research, characterizing itself mainly on the basis of the field of intervention rather than that of the disciplinary area as such. And it is in fact the ability to design innovation, and the methods of intervention aimed at synthesizing innovative design solutions, the specific contributions that Design offers to ergonomics and its multidisciplinary plant. It is precisely in this framework that today we witness the progressive approach, and often the overlap between the Human-Centred Design approaches and those proper to the areas Of Design Driven innovation and design thinking. In particular, the synthesis of usability and user experience assessment methods, which are unique to the Human-Centred ergonomic approach and the Design driven innovation and Design Thinking approach, are now one of the areas of research and research current intervention that can offer innovative solutions both in the processes of training and implementation of products and services, and in the processes of social innovation.
This chapter’s texts are partially taken from chapters by the same author, Tosi (2016c).
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Notes
- 1.
See Chap. 1, notes 2, 3 and 4.
- 2.
- 3.
For the meaning of “product” used in the book, see note 1.1 and Chap. 4.
- 4.
European Commission (2011).
- 5.
Oxford Dictionary defines “design” as:
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As noun: “A plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, or other object before it is made. The art or action of conceiving of and producing a plan or drawing of something before it is made. The arrangement of the features of an artefact, as produced from following a plan or drawing”.
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As verb (with object): “Decide upon the look and functioning of (a building, garment, or other object), by making a detailed drawing of it. Do or plan (something) with a specific purpose in mind”. Cfr. “Design” on Oxford Dictionary online: www.oxforddictionaries.com (consulted March 2018). The definition of Industrial Design in the Treccani Encyclopedia is interesting in this regard:
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industrial design: design of items that are intended to be produced industrially, that is, with machines and in lines. This meaning of design is best expressed with the Anglo-Saxon term industrial design, thanks to the English distinction between design and drawing.
Cfr. Treccani Encyclopedia online, www.treccani.it/enciclopedia (consulted March 2018).
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- 6.
“Industrial design is a design activity consisting of determining the formal properties of industrially produced items. Formal properties refers not only to features but, above all, to functional and structural relationships that make an item a coherent unit, from both the producer’s and user’s point of view.
While the exclusive concern of the external features on an item often hides the desire to make it more attractive or even to hide construction weaknesses, the formal properties of an item—at least as I understand it—are always the result of integrating many factors, be they functional, cultural, technological or economic.
In other words, while the external features treat this as a foreign entity, one that is not linked to the item and was not developed with it, the formal properties, on the contrary, represent a situation that corresponds to its internal organisation, which is linked to it and has been developed with it.” (Maldonado 1961).
- 7.
“In the field of Design, the scientific disciplinary contents refer to theories, methods, techniques and tools for the design of items—material and virtual—with reference to their morphological features in their relationships with: the needs and behaviour of users; productive, constructive, performance, security and quality features of the industrial systems; functional, ergonomic and economic, social and environmental sustainability requirements; visual languages, artistic practices, aesthetic and cultural meanings. The scientific contents refer to the theoretical and historic-critical status of the items and the specific forms of design thought as an interdisciplinary practice and a moment of synthesis for the various knowledge involved in the design of items in their life cycle, as well as the strategic preconfiguration of socio-technical scenarios and the configuration of new solutions through the application and transfer of technological innovations. The fields of research and application refer to product, communicative, interior and fashion design and their integrated systems.” Cfr. Italian Ministry of University Declaration DM 30-10-2015 n. 855 “Reassessment of macrosectors and insolvent sectors.”
- 8.
Cfr. Maldonado (1961); see note 7.
- 9.
The ISO 9241-11:1998 regulation was implemented by European regulation UNI/EN 29241, Ergonomic requirements for office work with video display terminals (VDT)—Usability guide, part 1. ISO 9241 has now reached its 210th part, as already been cited for ISO 9241-210:2010, Ergonomics of human-system interaction. Human-Centred design for interactive systems, which majorly revises the contents of the earlier part 11, extending them to the themes of User Experience and broadening the concept of the user—understood as the person who uses a given product—to people who interact with the product, regardless of its specific use. The definitions contained in ISO 9241-210:2010 are outlined in Sect. 5.3, “Usability”.
- 10.
Norman, The Psychology of everyday things, 1988, was publishes in Italy as: La caffettiera del masochista, psico-patologia degli oggetti quotidiani.
The new edition of the book La caffettiera del masochista, il design degli oggetti quotidiani, was published in Italy in 2014 (original: The design of everyday things, 2013).
- 11.
Ergonomics made its official entry into Italian degree courses in the mid ‘90s, in the Milan Polytechnic and Turin Polytechnic, and in the Faculties of Psychology in Siena and Turin.
In fact, despite being present in many official Architecture and Psychology courses, Ergonomics was mainly taught in themed seminars or lessons until the 1990s, without being recognised as an independent subject.
The first Ergonomics courses were introduced in the late 90s with various titles. Courses in the “Ergonomic requirements of industrial products” started at Milan Polytechnic, while specific Ergonomics subjects were taught in other settings through classes and workshops in “Environmental design” and “Component morphology”.
In subsequent decades, Ergonomics courses were inaugurated with increasingly more specific names and contents, leading to the current titles of courses such as “Ergonomics”, “Cognitive ergonomics” and “Ergonomics and Design” and the design workshops in “Ergonomics and design” found in almost all Italian degree courses in Industrial design, Design and Psychology. Courses at the first and second level of training (undergraduate and postgraduate degrees) were joined by the Masters in Ergonomics in the mid 90s, inaugurated in 1996 at Milan Polytechnic (director Adriana Baglioni) and Turin Polytechnic (director Alessandra Re), based on the Eur.Erg Ergonomics training programme. Today Masters in Ergonomics with different specialisations (Workplace safety, Product and environmental design, Organisational ergonomics, etc.) are present in Italy and other European countries, based on the new Eur.Erg training model. This was approved in 2011 by the Centre for Registration of European Ergonomists (CREE). On this matter, see Tosi (2016b, pp. 23–31).
- 12.
- 13.
For the definition of “needs” used in this book, see Sect. 1.1.
- 14.
The UNI 11377 “Usability of industrial products. Part 1: terms and definitions. Part 2: Intervention methods and tools” standard was published in 2010.
The Standard was drafted by the homonymous working group within the “Ergonomics” Commission of the UNI, “General principles” GL, which was composed of: Francesca Tosi (coordinator), Lucio Armagni, Paola Cenni, Luigi Bandini Buti, Laura Anselmi. Barbara Simionato, Fiammetta Costa and Sabrina Muschiato were also collaborators.
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Tosi, F. (2020). Design for Ergonomics. In: Design for Ergonomics. Springer Series in Design and Innovation , vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33562-5_2
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