Abstract
Food trays can be found around the world in schools, canteens, and restaurants. While useful for carrying food to a table, the design has caused frustration in countless users. The aim of the research outlined in this paper was to identify design criteria for food trays and produce a redesign to improve the user experience with an emphasis on ergonomics. The investigation focused on four areas: loading, carrying, eating from, and cleaning and storing the food tray. Areas of concern and design criteria were found through materials research, observations, questionnaires, interviews, and prototype testing. Details of the findings and the ergonomically designed prototype are presented in this paper. By investigating food trays from the user and staff perspective, design criteria and a unique design were developed which users felt was more comfortable and fit cleaning and storage requirements.
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Acknowledgments
The researchers would like to thank RISUD and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for the support, and all participants for their assistance.
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Sheen, K.A., Luximon, Y., Fung, K.H., Chak, S.H., Chiu, W.Y., Chan, W.S. (2019). Usability Study and Redesign of the Food Tray. In: Ahram, T., Falcão, C. (eds) Advances in Usability, User Experience and Assistive Technology. AHFE 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 794. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94947-5_40
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94947-5_40
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