ABSTRACT
A product is designed to perform a certain function. The user of the product takes action to let the product fulfil the desired performance. The operations for the user to achieve the desired performance vary from very simple to very complicated. Supposing it is the intention of the designer to make the handling of the product not unnecessary complicated the question arises in which way the designer reaches this goal. One of the research projects of the Department of Product & System Ergonomics of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of the University of Technology at Delft concerns a study of the behaviour of the designer when he (she) designs everyday consumer products, in particular those products that require handling. The variety of products in this field is enormous; and as some of them are meant for the same kind of operations, categorization of (operations with) products would be desirable, which allows for generalization of ergonomic characteristics within each category. Moreover, people perceive objects in terms of their similarities and differences, and consequently, in terms of the categories to which they belong (Lederman and Klatzky, 1990). In this study is chosen for a category of small products, namely domestic-, office-and do-it-yourself products leaving immovable fixed products excluded. The reason for this choice rather than looking at the handling aspect itself, is that the handling aspect of this type of products cannot be overlooked by the designer.
