Question

When is the best time to design ergonomics into any product or process? Why?

Answer 1

All products are designed to be used by human beings, thus the size of all such products are based on Anthropometric data. ‘Anthropo’ means human and ‘metrics’ means the measurement, and therefore anthropometric data dictates what the dimensions of a product should be so that it can be easily used by 95 percentile of the human population.

If a product is to be used for long periods of time, repeatedly then ‘shape’ and ‘feel’ of the product becomes as important - if not more - than its size, and this is where ‘Ergonomics’ comes in. Ergonomics is a much more recent field of study as compared to anthropometry but it is gaining more and more importance in all kinds of design these days.

If we take an example of a chair this becomes easier to understand. Chairs are used for various purposes and on the whole the dimensions of a chair do not drastically vary with a change in its usage, overall the dimensions of a dining chair are quite similar to a office chair. But the amount of time that we spend sitting on these chairs has a very big impact on the shape and feel of these chairs. A dining chair is a pretty simple piece of furniture because we spend not more than half an hour to an hour in them at a time, an office chair on the other hand is a very complicated design because we are spending 8 to 10 hours in that chair daily. Therefore, the office chair is much more ergonomically designed, its back is designed to give you maximum support, all ts surfaces are cushioned, you can adjust the heights of its seat and armrests and the tilt of its back support.