Explain ergonomics and human factors, including anthropometrics, and apply them to design products and spaces that fit people

What this dot point is asking

This dot point asks you to explain ergonomics and human factors, including anthropometrics, and apply them to design products and spaces that fit people. Ergonomics is the study of how people interact with the things they use, aiming to make designs comfortable, safe and efficient by fitting them to the human body and mind. Anthropometrics is the body-measurement data designers use to do this. You should understand these ideas, the use of percentiles to handle human variation, and how to apply ergonomic thinking to real designs. This is the physical, practical side of designing for people, closely linked to user-centred and inclusive design.

The answer

What ergonomics is

Ergonomics (also called human factors) is the study of how people interact with products, systems and environments, and the practice of designing them to fit human bodies and abilities. The aim is to make things comfortable, safe and efficient to use. Good ergonomics reduces strain, discomfort, errors and accidents, and improves how well people can do a task. The principle is to fit the design to the person, rather than forcing the person to adapt to a badly designed object.

Anthropometrics

Anthropometrics is the study and measurement of the human body: dimensions such as height, reach, hand size, sitting height, and limb lengths. This data is the raw material of ergonomic design, because it tells the designer the sizes real human bodies come in. Using anthropometric data, a designer can size a product so that it physically fits its users, for example setting a seat height, a handle size, or the height of a shelf within comfortable reach.

People vary: percentiles

A crucial idea is that people vary greatly in size, and almost no one is exactly "average". Designing only for the average person would leave smaller and larger people poorly served. Designers therefore use percentiles: a range, commonly from the 5th percentile (a small user) to the 95th percentile (a large user), so the design suits the great majority of people. For some features you design for the small end (a control must be within reach of a 5th-percentile user) and for others the large end (a doorway must clear a 95th-percentile user). Choosing the right percentile for each dimension is central to ergonomic design.

Comfort, posture, reach and safety

Ergonomic design considers how the body is used: comfort (avoiding strain and fatigue), good posture (supporting the back, allowing feet to rest, avoiding awkward positions), reach (placing controls and objects within easy reach), force (not requiring excessive strength), and safety (avoiding positions or actions that cause injury). A chair, a workstation, a tool or a kitchen all succeed or fail on these physical factors, which is why ergonomics is so important in product and space design.

Human factors beyond the physical

Human factors also include how people perceive, think and respond, not just their bodies. This cognitive side covers making controls intuitive, information clear, and interfaces easy to understand, and reducing mental effort and the chance of mistakes. A well-designed control panel, for example, is not only physically reachable but also clearly laid out so users press the right button. Ergonomics, in its full sense, fits the design to the whole person, body and mind.

Examples in context

Example 1. An adjustable office chair. A good office chair adjusts in height and support so people of different sizes can each achieve good posture, with feet flat and back supported. The adjustability accommodates human variation, showing anthropometrics and percentiles applied so the chair fits the great majority comfortably.

Example 2. A well-designed tool handle. A hand tool with a handle shaped and sized to fit the human grip, requiring little force and causing little strain, lets people work comfortably and safely for longer. It illustrates ergonomics in product design, where fitting the object to the hand reduces fatigue and the risk of injury.

Try this

• Cue. Find an object that fits you well (a comfortable chair, a good handle) and one that does not. For each, identify the ergonomic factor (height, reach, grip, posture) responsible, and explain the difference it makes.

• Cue. Explain in a short paragraph why a doorway is designed for a tall (95th percentile) user but a control or shelf for a short (5th percentile) user. Use the idea of percentiles and reach.

• Cue. Choose a product or space you use daily and suggest two ergonomic improvements that would make it fit a wider range of people more comfortably and safely. Justify each using anthropometric or human-factors thinking.