Product ergonomics involves testing, drawing, specifying or prototyping to make products easy to use.

PROJECTS CAN INCLUDE:

    Measurement of physiological factors

We can measure heartrate, breathing rate, sweating and limb movements. We use equipment like force gauges, pressure gauges, accelerometers and event counters.

   Measurement of product performance.  

Performance can be, for example, the time taken to complete a task, error rates, or the number of verbal instructions needed for success.  This is most commonly done as part of product development, to improve quality. Sometimes it is also done for marketing purposes, to prove an advantage over a competing product. The most effective approach is to to go through three cycles: the first to choose or refine the concept, the second to refine the detail, and the third to prove the competitive advantage. This can save a fortune in advertising costs!

   Development and proving of user instructions.  

We create them by running trials with an experimenter who acts as an instructor. By recording, and then analysing, the instructions which are found necessary for users to succeed, the information needs of users can be precisely defined. Good instructions are often given low priority, but can make a lot of difference to customer satisfaction. It also helps product usability if the instructions are developed with the product: quite often the need for a written instruction shows up an opportunity for making the product itself more intuitive.

   Specification of product characteristics

such as size, shape, colour, labelling etc. We do this on the basis of known good-practice, literature and reference search, and trialling.

   Prototyping.

For some technologies we can shortcut some test/development cycles by prototyping ourselves, or by contracting local engineering, electronics and computing firms.

   Statistical analysis.

Performance data can be used to make formal predictions about the likelihood of problems after launch, or to give required levels of confidence that certain events will or will not occur. If it is important that the product achieve a certain criterion, we apply statistics to examine the trial data mathematically, and give a concrete answer.