IRD20506 Industrial Design 3 - Market, User and Ergonomics (Spring 2006)

Prerequisites

Industrial Design 2: Design Methodology and History of Design, or equivalent.

Absolute requirements

Autumn and Spring

Lecture Semester

The course gives an introduction to the design of tools and shows how various analysis techniques and methods may provide a basis for effective development of products that are adapted to the user and the market. Further, the course gives insight and practice in applying human knowledge in user-oriented product design. The market is seen from a socio-cultural perspective.

Content

Form and function:
Methods for identification of customers needs. Concept development and choice. Target group adaption. Product architecture and prototype development. Product choice. Product specification (QFD). Organisation of integrated product development. Management of product design projects.

Ergonomics:
Central concepts, objectives and background are introduced. The use of ergonomic data, simulations and user tests as a basis for user-oriented product design is discussed, and so are requirements and regulations for design tools, machines and workplaces and EU standards for machine security.

Forms of teaching and learning

Lectures are combined with practical product development under supervision. Students develop a new product (a tool) during the course, all the way from a needs analysis to a model on a 1:1 scale with product drawings. The process is facilitated and supervised through assignments with feedback. The project groups are encouraged to reflect on their own process and development.

The ergonomics part of the course combines lectures and group-based research, with an individual blueprint as the end product. This work will include practical ergonomics, analysis through observation, building mock-up and testing. and documentation of the research. Additionally, basic knowledge of relevant topics for working with ergonomics is to be gathered and collated into presentations introducing the topics in plenum. The presentations are to be made available for the other students in the class in the form of pdf files on the faculty's server.

Experiences gathered through the ergonomics part of the course are to be visualised in the finished product of the ergonomics research into the individual blueprint.

Practical training/internship

The course uses portfolio assessment. The portfolio is to contain contributions and an end report that together count 75% of the final result. A presentation makes up the remaining 25%. The form and function part is the basis for two thirds of the evaluation and the ergonomic part for one third. Resubmission and new presentation is only possible at the next regular submission in the course.

Examiners

Professor Petter Øyan, petter.oeyan@hiof.no

Literature

Farstad, Per (2003), Industridesign. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

Ulrich, K T & S D Eppinger (2004), Product Design and Development. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Vavik, T & T A Øritsland (1999), Menneskelige aspekter i design; en innføring i ergonomi. Trondheim: IDP, NTNU.

Tilley, A R (2002), The Measure of Man and Woman: human factors in design. New York: Wiley.

Niels Diffrient (1974), Humanscale: a portfolio of information. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

Green, W S & P W Jordan (eds.) (1999), Human Factors in Product Design: current practice and future trends

Woodson, W E, B Tillman & P Tillman (1992), Human Factors Design Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill.