Lesson video

Hi there.

My name is Mr. Booth.

Thank you for joining me today for your lesson on ergonomics.

This lesson is part of the ergonomic design unit where the context is all about accessible controllers.

In today's lesson, we're gonna look at ergonomics.

We're gonna look at what ergonomics actually is and also how this impacts on product design.

By the end of this lesson, you're also gonna do some product analysis where we look at existing designs and look at how they can be improved when we think about the ergonomics of the product.

Today's outcome, by the end of the lesson, I want you to be able to define what ergonomics actually is and also explain how they impact user experience when we use or they use products.

We've got three key words today.

The first one, quite obviously, is all about ergonomics.

So what actually is the definition of ergonomics? Well, it's the interaction between people and the products that they use.

You might not have thought about ergonomics in the past, but every single product you use has been designed with you in mind.

They at least should have been anyway.

And ergonomics forms a really important part of that.

We're also gonna look at comfort.

That's another of our keywords that I want you to look out for.

And this is how well in this context, sorry, this is how well a product fits with the user's body, reducing strain or discomfort, which again is really important.

If we've got a product that actually isn't easy or doesn't fit well with the user, first of all, they simply won't use it, but also they may injure themselves.

And then finally, existing products, 'cause it's really important for us to look at existing products and how designers have designed them ergonomically.

And we can use that to inform our future designs.

So in this context, existing products, products that have already been created and used products that are already on the market.

There are three learning cycles in this lesson.

We're gonna start with ergonomics, then we're gonna move on to see, then we're gonna move on to looking how ergonomics can enhance comfort, and then finally looking at existing products and how they can improve future products, of course, with ergonomics in mind.

So let's get going with ergonomics.

So when designing products, it's really important to think about how people will use it.

We call these human factors, making sure things are the right size, making sure they're comfortable, that comfort, to use.

And also making sure they're easy to use.

If they're not, people just simply won't use them because they will not be comfortable.

Now what I want you to do is I want you to think about a product that you use on a regular basis, which is actually really comfortable and easy to use.

So pause the video, have a think.

When you've got your product, come back to me.

Brilliant.

Did you think of a product? I'm sure you can think about all the ergonomic features of that.

Now I'm gonna use an office chair.

Now the reason I'm using an office chair is because an office chair usually will have multiple users.

You think about an office chair being in an office space.

So it needs to be fully adjustable to suit different users heights and also their sitting positions.

We are all different shapes and sizes, so they have to make sure that the office chair is adjustable.

Otherwise, it simply won't be easy to use.

So good designers think carefully about different users and they will test their designs to make sure they work for as many people as possible.

Now, we can't design products that work for everybody.

That would be impossible.

But what we can do is try and get them to work for as many users as possible to make sure our products are successful.

So one important part of human factors is ergonomics.

Ergonomics is the interaction between people and the products that they use.

The relationship in this context when we're talking about ergonomics is a person who interacts with a product.

So we're talking about products in this context, and in this unit, we're talking about controllers.

So let's have a quick check for understanding.

So what is the correct definition of the term ergonomics? We've talked about it a twice now.

So let's see if you can identify the correct one.

Is it the interaction between people and the products they use? Is it the interaction between designers and the products that they create? Or is it the study of human measurement? Pause the video, have a go.

When you've got your answer, come back to me.

Brilliant.

So if you answered that it is the interaction between people and the products they use, you got it correct, well done.

So interaction with a product by a user can include different factors.

Now these might include comfort, how comfortable is that product to use? Ease of use, so you don't need specialist skill or instruction to be able to use that product.

The colour of the product, a lot of people miss this off, but actually the colour of the product can be really important as well.

And I'll show you an example in a minute, but a lot of you might have a certain vacuum cleaner at home where they identify the parts that you have to take off and clean or empty by using different colours.

So that makes the product easier to use.

The size of the product, quite an obvious one.

The weight of the product are very important when using products that have to be transported or used when they're lifted up.

And also things like symbols that appear on the product as well.

They all make our product easy to use, the interaction of users and these these different things.

So what I've got here is I've got an example of remote control and you'll have one of these in your house I'm sure to control.

Most TVs they all look very similar, very similar buttons, but there's some quite different designs.

So what I want you to do now is again, in a moment, pause the video, have a look at this image of a standard remote control and I want you to identify some of the ergonomic features that the designer has thought about when designing this product.

Now use the list of bullets on the left-hand side there to help you, but think about that.

Have a look at the image and identify all those different ergonomic factors the designer has thought about.

Pause the video, come back to me when you've got a few of those, and then I'll go through a couple as well.

Brilliant.

So I'm sure you've thought of quite a few.

So I'm gonna focus on two.

So the first one is actually it uses colour to improve usability.

So the on-off switch is easy to spot because, number one, it's got a symbol which we all recognise as on-off on there.

And also, it kinda highlights the button in red.

So you can see, it's got that kind of red button, but also it's got that outline around it as well.

And that's the only button on the entire mode that has that.

And the on-off switch you would argue is probably one of the most important buttons.

The next one is the middle buttons.

So these buttons are easy to press so the user can change the TV channel.

Now if you look at these buttons around the middle, you've got two sets of buttons.

One is to actually change the channel, the other is to change the volume.

These are the most used buttons on the remote and you can see they're separated from the rest of the remote.

They've almost got their own little area.

And again, that's for ease of use.

So you almost don't have to look down to be able to access this when you wanna change the channel or turn the volume up or turn the volume down.

So the designer here has thought about that very carefully, made it really easy to turn the remote on, but also thought about the space around these most used buttons to make sure they are really easy to press.

I'm sure you've got some others as well, which were fantastic.

So well done with that.

Quick check for understanding.

Which of the following are ergonomic features? So identify the ergonomic features that we just talked about: the voltage of batteries, a comfortable grip, easy-to-reach controls or buttons, the material the packaging is made from.

Pause the video, have a go at this.

When you've got your answers, come back to me.

So if you answered the comfortable grip and the easy-to-reach buttons, you've got it correct.

Obviously the voltage of batteries and the material that the packaging is made from don't really come into the ergonomic factors for this product.

We're onto our first task now.

What I would like you to do is choose a product from the classroom or wherever you are.

I want you to hold it.

So it's got to be something that you can hold in your hand and interact with and use.

And I want you to try using it.

Then what I want you to do is I want you to write down all the ergonomic features that make it comfortable to use.

Think about what we've just talked about with that remote control.

So I want you to think about: Is it easy and comfortable to use? And what features make it comfortable? Now what you might wanna do is you might wanna do a quick sketch of your product so you can annotate your sketch to talk about all the different ways.

I really don't mind how you do this.

Pause the video.

Come back to me when you've done this and I'll show you some examples of my pen that we've got here.

So if we take a look at this pen, so I've used this pen, I've had a go at it, and we've got lots of different ergonomic features which I can identify.

So first of all, I could take the lid off easily with one hand.

Very important 'cause I need to hold the pen in the other hand.

I was able to hold the pen properly and write sentences very easily.

It's got almost like a hexagon design on this, which made it actually quite comfortable to hold in my hand.

The pen is made of a polymer, making it lightweight to use and very easy and comfortable to hold.

And I could easily tell that the pen would write in pink.

Why? Well, of course 'cause it's got a pink lid.

But also, the end cap is pink as well.

So it kinda gives me that information before I use it.

So this was quite an ergonomic and a nice product to use.

I'm sure you had your own and I'm sure you wrote down all your own versions for your product.

So well done with that task.

So we're now moving on to ergonomics, enhancing comfort.

So how do we actually do that? How do designers make sure that their products are easier and more comfortable to use through using ergonomics? So we know that ergonomics is about making products more comfortable and easy to use.

I've talked about that already.

So ergonomic products fit better with how your body moves and feels.

Now this helps prevent discomfort or injury, especially over long-term or prolonged use.

A nice example that I'm gonna use for these are classroom chairs.

These are the bane of the student's life, aren't they? Definitely.

And what we've got here is two examples of this.

So I want you to try and think back to when you were in reception, when you were the first started school in primary school.

And obviously the chairs you sat on then were a lot smaller than the ones you sit on now.

If you've ever gone back and visited a primary school, you will see, all of a sudden it becomes a very shock of how the small the chairs actually were.

Now of course it's really important that we have small chairs when we are in those primary classrooms is because the children are simply smaller.

But of course the larger chairs that we use in secondary schools obviously fit the bigger size and provide better comfort.

Now what we couldn't do is we couldn't use the same chair size for all, could we? We couldn't use the smaller chair size in secondary school 'cause they'd be very uncomfortable.

Your knees would obviously be up really high and you wouldn't be able to probably see what was going on in the classroom.

And vice versa, if we try to use the larger chairs in the smaller classroom, some of the peoples have actually struggled just to get on the chairs themselves.

So what we do is we design different products to suit different users to make sure they're comfortable to use.

And of course ergonomics is a big part of this.

So quick check for understanding.

Which of these ergonomic features make the hairbrush more comfortable to use? So you've got a picture of a hairbrush on there.

So which of these make it more comfortable to use? Is it a curved handle, a lightweight design, the colour of the design or the plastic bristles? So which ones make it more comfortable to use? Pause the video, come back to me when you've got an answer.

So if you answered the curved handle, the lightweight design and also the plastic bristles, then yes, they make it more comfortable to use.

The colour of the design in this instant probably doesn't have any impact on how ergonomic the design is.

In some designs it does, but in this instance it's probably just there for decoration.

So if a design is ergonomically successful, it should be comfortable and easy to use.

For example, let's have a look at this hair dryer.

So the products is made of a polymer, so that means it's lightweight and the user can lift it easy, it's not very heavy, and they can use it especially for prolonged use if you've got a lot of hair,.

The handle is curved and fits the user hand.

You can almost see it's like curved, almost like the user's hand.

You can see the design of the hair dryer on there.

The buttons are easy to press, but more importantly the buttons are all in easy reach of the fingers and you can probably operate this product with two fingers while still holding it with one hand so they can operate the hair dryer very easily.

So what you could say is you could say this design is ergonomically successful, it's easy and comfortable to use.

So quick check for understanding.

True or false? Ergonomics is all about the size of a product.

Pause the video, answer to the question.

Come back to me when you've got your answer.

And the answer to this is of course false, but I wanna know why.

So again, pause the video, think about your answer why.

Come back to me when you've got that.

Well, it is course 'cause ergonomics is the relationship between the user and the product, including its size, how well it fits and interacts with the body and how easy and comfortable it is to use.

Well done if you've got that right.

Onto our second task now.

So I want you to do some research.

I want you to find some products that you find easy and comfortable to use.

We've talked about a few already.

And also I want you to find some that are difficult to use, some that are not comfortable to use.

I want you to make a list of all the ergonomically positive and negative features of these products.

Now I'm gonna show you three of these products.

I've already given you one which is the hair dryer.

So I want you to do at least three, but by all means do more if you like.

When you've done this, come back to me and we'll have a look at how you got on.

So pause the video now.

Okay, so let's have a look at what I got.

So the first one is the hair dryer.

And I've already been through this in the explanations, but I've already said that the buttons are easy to reach, the handle is curved and fits in the user's hand, then it's very lightweight.

But actually one of the negative features is it's wired kind of needs to be.

It needs a lot of power, but that means you have to sit close to the plug which actually might limit where you could use it but also the comfort 'cause you might have to sit on the floor to use this product.

The next one is your kind of standard smartphone charger.

So this pushes into the socket really easily.

There are a small finger indents to help you grip the edge of the plug, but I'm sure you'll all agree, anyone who's tried to pull one of these out of a plug, the shiny polymer finish and also the slim design make it actually really difficult to pull the plug out.

And for a an ergonomic product, that's actually quite difficult to do.

And the final one is a mouse.

Well, it's got a nice curved design, which fits the palm of my hand.

The buttons are at easy reach and they're very easy to press.

It's got a roller on the top, which is a textured surface, which means I can scroll really easily.

And actually it's relatively simple to use.

But actually if this was gonna be used for example in a primary school, it's actually quite a complex product to use.

What do all the buttons mean? Which button do you press to actually select something? Which button button you press to scroll? It might be quite nice to maybe have a little bit of colour coding on there or something like that if it's gonna be used with younger users or people who have never used a mouse before.

So hopefully you've got your own products and I'm sure you've thought about all those positive and negative features about ergonomics and you've got a really good understanding of how designers enhance comfort using ergonomics.

So we're now onto our final learning cycle.

So now looking at existing products and how we can improve future products, so we're gonna look at some ergonomically designed products based on controllers, and then we're gonna be able to analyse these to see how they've been designed.

So existing products, products that have already been created, sold or used by people, products that are products that are on the market today, products you can go and buy in the shops, that's what existing products are.

Now we can use these to provide a starting point for designing the next versions, but they also show, well, what works well, and also what needs improvement.

And most products you pick up, even if they are brilliantly designed products, you will be able to find certain features where you think that they could be designed better.

And that's absolutely fine 'cause no product is ever perfect.

So designers can use feedback, feedback from yourselves, feedback from reviews, feedback from user groups, and even feedback from other stakeholders to fix problems but also add new features and improve their products all the time.

No product is ever really finished.

We can improve them all the time.

Learning from past designs helps us create better products in the future.

And by doing a little bit of product analysis, it's a really powerful way of doing all that.

And of course we are gonna do this now with ergonomics in mind.

So quick check for understanding.

Learning from past, what helps create what products in the future.

Fill in the blanks, pause the video.

When you've got the answers, come back to me.

So what you should have got is learning from past designs helps create better products for the future.

Well done.

So game controllers, let's focus now what the context of this lesson and this unit's going to be.

So game control vary based on the console that you are using.

I'm sure most of you have got a games controller at home.

Whether it's a PC, an Xbox, a PlayStation, or Nintendo, each has a different design designed by a team of designers for a specific purpose and they are all very pleased with their designs 'cause they all kind of stay very similar, okay? So players may prefer a controller based on aesthetics.

It could be materials, it could be the texture of those materials, but most often it's to do with ergonomics, how it feels in their hands.

So how your controller feels in your hand and enhances gameplay.

How well can you actually play those games using their controller? And that's usually the number one reason that we look when we are buying a games controller.

Another quick check for understanding.

how can designers learn from existing products? Can they use feedback to fix problems, add new features, by copying the design exactly without making any changes, or ignoring feedback and creating something completely different from scratch each time? Pause the video, try and answer it, and come back to me when you've got that.

So what you should have answered of course is use feedback to fix problems and add new features.

And they do this in a number of different ways.

So we're gonna go straight into your final task now.

That's quite a long task and hopefully, you're gonna get a lot out of this.

So what I want you to do is identify the ergonomic features of each of these designs, highlighting both strengths and weaknesses.

Now you'll probably recognise these games controllers.

Lots of different manufacturers make them, but they are quite different designs.

So what I want you to do is really think about carefully and identify all those different designs and features which they have.

And I want strengths and weaknesses.

You might have even used some of these controllers in the past.

You might even have some at your disposal to actually do this live in front of you.

If you don't, use the images that are provided.

Again, I want you to identify strengths and weaknesses.

You might want to sketch over the top of these images to be able to then annotate your strengths and weaknesses.

I really don't mind how you do that.

So have a go at this, pause the video.

Come back to me when you've got your answers and I'll go through some of mine.

So let's have a look at this games controller first.

So first of all, it's got large buttons and triggers, ideal for precise control.

They're almost in the natural resting position where your fingers are, especially those ones on top and the ones underneath that you use very regularly.

Your fingers and your thumbs almost sit in those positions naturally.

It's got color-coded buttons, really easy to recognise during gameplay.

But more importantly, when you are learning a game, you will need to know those buttons and which ones to press in order to do all the things that you're doing in your game.

Once you become a seasoned pro, whatever game you're playing, I'm sure you don't need the colour coding, but when you're starting out, really useful.

It's a wireless design.

You charge this in a dock, it's got rechargeable batteries within the actual controller.

This is great 'cause it means I can move around.

It also means I can actually be quite far away from my console, but of course the batteries will eventually run out.

And if that runs out mid gameplay and I don't have another controller ready, then that can be a real issue.

Also, what I don't wanna have to do is I don't wanna have to keep recharging it as those batteries get less and less charged.

It's got a thumbstick placement.

Now the thumbstick placement on this controller is an asymmetrical layout, giving a natural grip.

It sits naturally where my right thumb kind of sits.

But some players, especially if you're left-handed, might not want it there.

You might want it more symmetrical or even to have an option on the other side.

So this can be a strength or a weakness.

And finally it's got a very ergonomic shape.

There's no sharp corners, it sits in your hand really comfortably.

And it's whole, it is really comfortable to hold for long gaming sessions.

The problem is with this design, and this has actually been quite renowned for this design, is that if you've got smaller hands and younger and younger children are playing games, cons, games now, it can be quite uncomfortable to hold, quite bulky in this design.

So that again, can be a weakness but also a strength.

So here we have quite a classic games control.

I remember this one from my youth.

This came out when I was a lot younger.

So this is a wired connection, so no need for batteries or charging.

So I've turned that into a positive.

You might have got that as a negative straight away, but actually it means it's always gonna work so I don't have to recharge it.

The problem with that, of course, is it limits where I can sit or stand.

I have to do it within the reaches of that cable.

Cables also get tangled and cables also get damaged as well.

So that could be a limiting factor or weakness for this product.

It's a classic style of design, very familiar for users.

It's got compact and lightweight.

It's easier to hold, especially for smaller hands.

It's slightly smaller than the other controller, but it's less of an ergonomic grip.

It might not be as comfortable for extended gameplay.

And then final on this one, it's got the same symmetrical joystick layout, preferred by some gamers, prefer for precise movement.

You can see we've got the same kind of joystick on both sides.

And this can be used in both ways.

You can do the setup in the game, so you can use either one, which means it caters for both left and right-handed players.

Really interesting.

And I'm sure you've got lots of designs yourself and lots of ideas of your own and that's absolutely fantastic.

So well done.

So we've now come to the end of the lesson.

Well done today.

Let's have a quick summary of what we've learned today when we've been looking at ergonomics.

So first of all, ergonomics focuses on designing products that are comfortable, efficient, and easy to use.

Well designed products improve user experience by reducing strain and increasing usability.

And finally, analysing existing products helps us identify strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement when we want to design products in the future.

Well done today.

It's been a fantastic lesson and I'll see you all again.