ABSTRACT
The creation of consumer products drives much of the world industrial economy. Consumer product usability provides a competitive advantage to companies in today’s market place. Human factors deal with the application of human-system interface technology to enhance usability (Hendrick 1996) and it plays an important role in all phases of the consumer product design and development process. The label “ergonomically designed” is applied to a diverse array of products, from simple products, such as erasers and pens, to more complex products, such as computers and cars. Ergonomic design is used to denote improved product usability, whether the label is applied to hardware products, or to software. The label “ergonomically designed” is also used to differentiate between the depth and quality of thinking in the design. By definition, an ergonomically designed product should be one that is most appropriate to the task to be performed, that best fits the range of product users in terms of their dimensions, abilities, expectations and skills, and that is the easiest to use in an efficient way. Ergonomically designed products are not inherently more expensive to produce than nonergonomic counterparts. What truly differentiates ergonomically designed products is that they are the outcome of a systematic application of human factors principles and knowledge to the product design and development process.
