Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Ergonomics II

1. What is Ergonomics?
It is a form of designing the job, equipment and workplace for the worker.

2. What are the 5 aspects of Ergonomics?
They are:
- Safety
- Comfort
- Ease of use
- Efficiency
- Aesthetics

3. For each aspects of Ergonomics, explain with an example of a product that is designed for the elderly, how the product meet that particular aspect of Ergonomics.
- Safety- Medicine Bottles- enlarge the print size of words on the label so the the elderly (those that have impaired vision) could see the instructions more clearly. By using Ergonomics, we can discover the best font size we could use so that the words could fit into the limited space on the label and those with impaired eyesight could still see it.

- Comfort- New digital alarm clocks (which could have been replaced for the elderly): The displays of some of the clocks are very very bright, so it catches attention very easily, especially when it is left in the dark. Using ergonomics, we could redesign the clock based on the contrast principle and maybe include an auto-dimming device (something similar to iSight) when it is placed in the dark, so that the user may be able to sleep well at night as elderly are very sensitive and mostly are light sleepers so they are easily woken up.

- Ease of use- Street signs: the signs can be quite hard to spot when the elderly is in a unfamiliar area, so we could use ergonomics to improve the design so that it would be more visible to the elderly, who might have some eyesight problems.

- Efficiency- Rocking chairs: The rocking chairs are usually made of wood, and it can be very uncomfortable and hard without a cushion, so we could use ergonomics to improve the design such that the rocking chair would not be so uncomfortable to sit on and lighter in weight.

- Aesthetics- Signs at the shopping area: The signs at the shopping area can be made more aesthetic by haveing them made in the same pattern and design.

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