Understanding the needs and aspirations of a suitable range of users during the product design process is an extremely difficult task. Methods such as ethnographic studies can be used to gain a better understanding of users needs, but they are inherently time consuming and expensive. The time pressures that are evident in the work performed by design consultancies often make these techniques impractical. This paper contains a discussion about the use of 'personas', a method used by designers to overcome these issues. Personas are descriptive models of archetypal users derived from user research. The discussion focuses on two case studies, the first of which examines the use of personas in the car design process. The second examines the use of personas in the field of 'inclusive design', as demonstrated by the HADRIAN system. These case studies exemplify the benefits 'data rich' personas contribute as opposed to 'assumption based' personas.
With advances in technology it is now possible to collect a wide range of anthropometric data, to a high degree of accuracy, using 3D light-based body scanners. This gives the potential to speed up the collection of anthropometric data for design purposes, to decrease processing time and data input required, and to reduce error due to inaccuracy of measurements taken using more traditional methods and equipment (anthropometer, stadiometer and sitting height table). However, when the data collection concerns older and/or physically impaired people there are serious issues for consideration when deciding on the best method to collect anthropometry. This paper discusses the issues arising when collecting data using both traditional methods of data collection and a first use by the experimental team of the TC 2 3D body scanner, when faced with a 'non-standard' sample, during an EPSRC funded research project into issues surrounding transport usage by older and physically impaired people.
Three-dimensional (3D) body scanners have the potential to evaluate changes to the human form through different clothing configurations, the use of protective equipment, or the effects of medical interventions. To achieve this, scans of an individual need to be superimposed for each experimental condition. The literature highlights that one of the limiting factors is postural variability. This paper describes a newly developed 'positioning aid' that stabilises the posture during the scanning process and is invisible on scans. The results of a study evaluating the efficacy of the positioning aid showed that it reduces postural variability for all body parts in lateral and longitudinal directions. A reference test with a rigid mannequin indicated that the 'technical' variability due to the scanner hardware and software significantly contributes to the residual variability. Furthermore, the study showed that the newly developed positioning aid overall increased the precision of the software-assisted extraction of body dimensions.
This paper describes research into the area of 'design for all'. The research addresses two common needs for designers working towards developing inclusive products and environments, namely data on users that is accessible, valid, and applicable and a means of utilising the data to assess the accessibility of designs during the early stages of development. The approach taken is through the development of a combined database and inclusive human modelling tool called HADRIAN. Data were collected on 100 people the majority of whom are older or have some form of impairment. These individuals provide a browsable resource spanning size, shape, capability, preferences and experiences with a range of daily activities and transport related tasks. This is partnered with the development of a simple, CAD based task analysis system. Tasks are carried out by the virtual individuals in the database and accessibility issues reported, allowing excluded people to be investigated in order to understand the problems experienced and solutions identified. HADRIAN is also being expanded to include a more accessible journey planner that provides accessibility information to both end users and transport professionals. Together HADRIAN allows more informed choices to be made either in travelling, or in the designing of products and environments.
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