This thesis examines the presence of ergonomics in the design process at IKEA of Sweden. It also attempts to describe how IKEA of Sweden can implement more ergonomics in their development process of new products. The study is based on interviews with employees at IKEA of Sweden and with an employee at the design bureau Veryday.  The thesis also includes a design process that has been conducted using a given brief by IKEA of Sweden with a predetermined way of production. The purpose of the design process should have an overall ergonomic perspective. The interviews were analysed using the theory presented which includes the perception and fallacies of ergonomics, anthropometrics and universal design. The result shows that ergonomic aspects are not included in a structured way common for all areas when developing products at IKEA of Sweden. The study also points to a need of information about ergonomics, like a guideline. Access to an expert as an occupational therapist or a physiotherapist would also improve the design process. The analysis of the design process and the products Höghult shows the importance of preparation in the design process using functional analysis, specifications and analysis of the way of production. To proceed with the implementation of the overall ergonomic perspective in the design process, it is important to test and evaluate the prototype using an expert and a test panel representing the potential customers. / Den här uppsatsen undersöker förekomsten av ergonomi i designprocessen på IKEA of Sweden. Den försöker även beskriva hur IKEA of Sweden kan föra in mer ergonomi i deras arbete med att ta fram nya produkter. Studien är baserad på intervjuer av medarbetare på IKEA of Sweden samt av företrädare för designbyrån Veryday. Parallellt med intervjustudien genomfördes en designprocess efter given brief av IKEA of Sweden med angivet produktionssätt där processen ska ha ett övergripande ergonomiskt perspektiv. Intervjuerna analyserades utifrån den teori som presenterats om bland annat föreställningar om ergonomi, antropometri och universell design. Resultatet visar att det inte finns ett strukturerat arbetssätt för ergonomiska frågeställningar gällande produktutveckling på IKEA of Sweden. Studien visar också på att det finns behov av information om ergonomi som t ex en guideline. Att ha tillgång till en expert, såsom t ex en arbetsterapeut eller fysioterapeut, skulle också berika designprocessen. Analysen av designprocessen och produkterna Höghult visar betydelsen av att noga förbereda designprocessen med hjälp av funktionsanalys, kravspecifikation samt analys av produktionssättet. För att komma vidare med implementeringen av det övergripande ergonomiska perspektivet i designprocessen är det viktigt att testa och utvärdera prototypen med hjälp av exempelvis en expert samt en testgrupp som representerar kundgruppen.

This master thesis concerns the development of a refilling position and solution, for washer fluid. As well as a study and development of the use of a secondary washer fluid for winter and summer use. The focus of this work, however, has been on the development of the regular washer fluid with regards to creating a user-friendly ergonomic solution with a premium feel, that improves the user experience and simplifies the refilling process for the user. The automotive industry today is constantly evolving and always strive to improve their products in most areas when it comes to the environment and their clients, etc. Despite this, the process of refilling washer fluid has not been developed in the modern automotive history. The refilling of washer fluid today, looks the same as it ”always” has done. This takes place under hood in a small dirty compartment, with a relatively small tube opening where the user must aim the washer fluid when pouring. To get there, the user must carry out several unnecessary steps to get under the bonnet, where the user does not necessarily have anything to do. This, even though other areas around the washer fluid has evolved a lot, in terms of wiper blades and washer fluid nozzles. The work is done with Volvo Cars Cooperation as clients. Volvo Cars is a Swedish car manufacturer that manufactures passenger cars, which they have done since 1927, when the company started. They are aiming to become the world’s most modern and attractive premium car brand, a leader in innovation and people-centered development. They strive to make the life easier and more enjoyable for their users. Since Volvo has the intention to always improve their products to their users and make life easier for them, this project has used a human-centered design process. The work was done together with the demands and requests from the involved departments at Volvo Cars as well as customer surveys and interviews with mechanics. To find a solution that satisfies all stakeholders and Standards it required an iterative approach and design work.  The work resulted in two concepts where both ordinary and secondary washer fluid can be filled, these prototypes were made and built into a Volvo XC60, 3D renderings of these, as well as an interface for the secondary washer fluid. These solutions have made the process of refilling washer easier with less steps for the and gives a feeling of a premium and innovative solution.

Globe Group, a company under the brand Greenworks Tools, is one of the industry leaders in battery-powered outdoor equipment, developing tools that deliver the performance of a gasoline-powered tool without the hassle and emissions associated with it. Gasoline-powered tools are still prevalent in the field of arboriculture where arborists work daily with chainsaws while performing tree felling and pruning. Now a new type of chainsaw is in development by Globe Group which is characterized by its lightweight and large battery capacity, which brings extraordinary battery life. This feature is possible by redesigning the chainsaw to support an external battery, which is housed in a separate battery pack instead of placing the battery directly inside the tool. The aim of the project is to adapt and design the battery pack for arborists by using a user-centered design approach with focus on ergonomics. This is done by having a close cooperation with the arborists during the whole project, from pre-study to final concept evaluation, to explore and fulfill the needs of the user. By using a wide range of research and design methods, a final concept is developed to reach the needs of the user and company. / Globe Group, som står bakom varumärket Greenworks Tools, är branschledande inom batteridriven utomhusutrustning och levererar verktyg med samma prestandanivå som hos ett bensindrivet verktyg, fast utan utsläpp och krångel som det typiskt är förknippat med. Bensindrivna verktyg är fortfarande mycket vanliga inom trädvårdssektorn där arborister arbetar med motorsågar dagligen vid trädfällning och grenbeskärning. Nu är en ny typ av motorsåg under utveckling av Globe Group som kännetecknas av sin lätta vikt och stora batterikapacitet, vilket ger extra lång batterilivslängd. Denna kombination är möjligt genom att ha ett externt batteri vilket är huserat i ett separat batteripaket istället för att placera batteriet direkt in i verktyget. Projektets mål är att anpassa och konstruera batterifickan specifikt för målgruppen arborister genom att använda en användarcentrerad designapproach med fokus på ergonomi. Detta görs genom ett nära samarbete med arboristerna under hela projektets gång, från förstudie till utvärdering av resultat, för att utforska och uppfylla användarens behov. Ett slutligt koncept är utvecklat för att tillgodose både användarens och företagets behov/krav.

A popularização dos dispositivos computacionais portáteis ao longo dos últimos anos, principalmente os smartphones e tablets, tem motivado o desenvolvimento de aplicações, que possuem um grande potencial para facilitar o acesso a informação e auxiliar os usuários na realização de tarefas do cotidiano. Entretanto, notamos que essa tecnologia não é acolhida por todos os nichos de usuários de modo semelhante. Apesar do envelhecimento natural das populações possibilitar um crescimento considerável de pessoas idosas nos últimos anos, observa-se que a taxa de utilização dos dispositivos táteis pelos idosos, atualmente, pode ser considerada baixa em relação às demais faixas etárias. Esta menor participação dos usuários idosos do mercado de aplicação para dispositivos móveis ocorre devido ao desenvolvimento tecnológico não considerar as especificidades para permitir seu uso, limitando a satisfação dos usuários por meio da concepção de componentes de interface e funcionalidades que dificultam a utilização pelo público idoso, contribuindo até para uma rejeição a essa tecnologia. Assim, neste projeto busca-se propor recomendações de usabilidade específicas para o desenvolvimento de aplicações em dispositivos móveis voltadas para os usuários idosos, a partir do desenvolvimento centrado no usuário, de uma aplicação de interesse para esse público alvo, que foi denominada Eldernote. Em direção a esse objetivo realizamos estudos para identificarmos na literatura as principais recomendações e diretrizes de usabilidade para a implementação de aplicações móveis voltadas para os usuários idosos. A partir desses estudos, iniciamos um levantamento sobre esse perfil de usuários e dos requisitos da aplicação. Com base nas informações coletadas, foi desenvolvida a aplicação Eldernote. Todo o processo de desenvolvimento é descrito neste trabalho, desde a concepção das interfaces até a realização de testes preliminares com usuários reais, com o objetivo de investigar as principais características de projetar-se uma aplicação com usabilidade especialmente para usuários idosos. Finalmente, foram realizados os testes de usabilidade com os usuários em um ambiente real de utilização, que propiciou inferirmos as preferências dos usuários, componentes de interface prejudiciais a utilização e a análise da navegação dos usuários durante o uso da aplicação. Ao final, não só foi possível identificar recomendações de usabilidade mas também resultou na disponibilização da aplicação Eldernote à comunidade de usuários no intuito de contribuir para a melhoria da qualidade de vida dos usuários idosos. / The widespread use of portable devices in the last few years, particularly smartphones and tablets has encouraged the development of applications that have the potential to facilitate access to information and help users in day to day activities. However it is important to notice that this technology is not welcomed by all users. In spite of the fact that the natural process of overall aging of the population is increasing the number of elderly people, it is noticeable that the usage of such devices by this group is relatively low compared with other age groups. This apparent exclusion of the elderly from the market of mobile applications is due to its technological development not take this group particular necessities into consideration to allow its free use, this seriously limits the users satisfaction with the usage of interface elements and functionalities that hinder its utilization by the elderly public and contribute to this groups rejection of this technology. Therefore, this project seeks to propose specific recommendations for the development of applications in mobile devices for elderly users from the development of a user centered application named Eldernote. Seeking this purpose we have studied and identified the literatures main recommendations and guidelines used in the implementations of mobile applications directed to elderly users. Coming out of this research, we initiated the survey of the users profile and their guidelines for the application from interviews with a group of users. Based on this information the job of implementing the Eldernote application began, and in this work we illustrate all of its development process, from its interface conception to the realization of preliminary tests with real users. Finally, after the conclusion of its implementation, we tested the applications usability with users in a real usage environment. From the tests collected data it was possible to conclude the users preferences, prejudicial interface elements and to analyze the users navigation inside the application. With the conclusion of this work it was possible not only to determine usability recommendations but it also resulted in Eldernotes availability to the users community with the intention to contribute to the improvement of the users life quality.

Technology needs to be designed considering various usage contexts. Today many parents use social media. Children are allowed to have a social media account by some social media websites if they are above a certain age. Social media is diverse in content that it is sometimes suitable for viewing by children and sometimes not. Parents sometimes wish to show some specific content from their social media page to their children. The page that they wish to show could have a content that is not suitable for viewing by children. This presents a problem to both the parent and child as users who sit together to view the intended content. This thesis intends to study on the different use contexts when the parent and child would want to sit together viewing a social media page sharing the same device. The study would also try to understand how the parent would envision to have the social media user interface during such usage contexts. This study also aims to trigger further research on the problems related to computer mediated interaction of people and children using the virtual sphere especially in social media encompassing the data analytics that would be needed in the background to ease such a communication.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:13:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Camila Calixto Rocca Brandao.pdf: 32903962 bytes, checksum: 2821993d8cb679439eaaf0b45d785621 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-25 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / On the communication field, specifically on the studies about the creative processes of websites interfaces, the departments of account planning and information architecture/user experience design are responsible for the concept idealization and strategy for the creation and development of the digital interface. During the creative process, one of the most relevant factors is the focus on the user. Especially for sites that are part of advertising communication campaigns, driven to the relationship between brands and their consumers, which final objective is to build loyalty and generate the consumption of brands products and services on the long term. The mapping of users behavior, habits and needs that represent an interface s target, are basis for the tools and functionalities that the site will offer. A deeper and more complete mapping drives a more efficient and richer experience for the interface user. Under this purpose, planning methodologies are used together with user experience design techniques such as user tests and projective techniques, such as the creation of personas personas are fictitious characters created to represent the different real users profiles that are part of the target, defined in demographic, attitudinal and/or behavioral aspects, who will use a site. Having this context in mind, this study aims to analyze the planning process during websites creation, with focus on users mapping and understanding, reflecting on the available methodologies and projective techniques, above all the personas technique, and the impact of using those techniques in the creative process. Therefore, as methodological basis for this study we have done documental and bibliographical researches, and a descriptive presentation of a real case study, for illustrating digital interfaces creative process. The corpus of this study is the planning process for the creation of the new Brazilian Nestlé s website. Analysis period: August/2010 to June/2013. There were used as theoretical foundation concepts of mass communication, culture and consumption, advertising communication and hybrid advertising from Martin-Barbero, Bauman, Fontenelle, Wolf, Pinheiro, Carrascoza, Covaleski; of cyberspace and network creation processes from Castells, Lévy, Manovich, Morin, Deleuze and Guattari, Santaella, Leão, Salles, Lemos; and concepts of information architecture andu ser experience design from Kruger, Cooper, Moggridge, Mulder, Adlin. This study may contribute for the development of planning process typology for the creation of users centered websites, resulting on the development of interfaces capable to deliver an intuitive, interactive and efficient experience to different types of users / No campo da comunicação, especificamente nos estudos sobre os processos de criação de interfaces para sites, as áreas de planejamento estratégico e arquitetura de informação/user experience design são responsáveis pela idealização do conceito e estratégia para a criação e desenvolvimento da interface digital. Durante o processo criativo, um dos fatores de maior relevância é o foco no usuário. Sobretudo para sites que pertencem à comunicação publicitária voltada para o relacionamento das marcas com seus consumidores, cujo objetivo final é fidelizar consumidores e gerar consumo dos produtos e serviços da marca no longo prazo. A partir do mapeamento de comportamento, hábitos e necessidades dos usuários que representam o público-alvo de tal interface, são criadas as ferramentas e funcionalidades que o site oferecerá. Quanto mais profunda e completa for essa etapa de mapeamento, mais rica e efetiva será a experiência proporcionada ao usuário pela interface. Para isso, utilizam-se metodologias de planejamento aliadas a técnicas de desenho da experiência do usuário (conhecida como user experience design) com testes com usuários e técnicas projetivas, dentre as quais, destaca-se a de criação de personas personas são personagens fictícios criados para representar os diferentes tipos de usuários reais, que compõem determinado público-alvo definido em seus aspectos demográficos, de atitudes e/ou comportamento, que deverão utilizar um site. Nesse contexto, o presente estudo possui o objetivo de analisar o processo de planejamento durante a criação de sites, com foco no mapeamento e entendimento dos usuários, refletindo sobre as metodologias e técnicas projetivas existentes, sobretudo a técnica de criação de personas, e sobre qual o impacto da utilização dessas técnicas no processo criativo. Para tanto, como base metodológica desse estudo, foram realizadas pesquisas documentais, bibliográficas e apresentação descritiva de um estudo de caso real de mercado, a fim de ilustrar um processo criativo de interfaces digitais. O corpus do presente estudo é o processo de planejamento para a criação o novo portal brasileiro da marca Nestlé na internet. Período de análise: Agosto/2010 a Junho/2013. Foram utilizados como parte da fundamentação teórica conceitos de comunicação, cultura e consumo, comunicação publicitária e publicidade híbrida de Martin-Barbero, Bauman, Fontenelle, Wolf, Pinheiro, Carrascoza, Covaleski; de ciberespaço e processos de criação em rede de Castells, Lévy, Manovich, Morin, Deleuze e Guattari, Santaella, Leão, Salles; e conceitos de arquitetura de informação e user experience design de Kruger, Cooper, Moggridge, Mulder, Adlin. Esperase que este estudo contribua para o desenvolvimento de uma tipologia de processo de planejamento para criação de sites com foco nos usuários, resultando no desenvolvimento de interfaces que proporcionem aos diferentes tipos de usuários uma experiência intuitiva, interativa e eficiente

In the field of technology, every day new inventions are introduced in the society for promotion human beings life. By virtue of which all the citizens of society are facilitated according to their needs of life style. Most of the people from developed countries are benefited in all ways of life due to their nonstop efforts and struggle in the field of technology. However some are completely denied due to lack of awareness and lacking of technical education in the subject field. The handicapped people are not very well explored in each part of world, especially third world countries by the researchers. So we can claim it, for their weaknesses and so called interest to understand more about the handicapped people worldwide. To understanding about such people will provide us with opportunities to excel in the subfield. There is a big gap between the handicapped and society which causes to cut them off from society. This gap needs to be filled in, while carrying out researches in the desired fields. Our research area is related to ticket reservation machine for the visually impaired people, to make the process easy for them to buy ticket at their own from the ticketing machine. After studying different articles on the subject, it is proved that many inventions have already been done by researchers and others are in progress for helping out the handicapped people. We have presented screen prototypes of the interface of the ticketing machine for the visually impaired people. We collected many hardware devices as one kit which can be use in the machine for the visually impaired users. It will enhance their power of visual sense to perform tasks at their own. There are some principles to follow in building up any system for visually impaired or blind people. If followed these principles in true sense it will facilitate to make new interface designs for interaction with visually impaired or blind users in friendly way. In this way we can overcome the shortcomings between normal and visually impaired people, which will be a great achievement to serve the deprived people.

Esta pesquisa qualitativa de natureza fenomenológica buscou identificar aspectos da percepção de objetos pessoais e/ou domésticos, produzidos em material plástico, nos dias atuais, segundo a visão de seus usuários, e segundo o relato que delas façam designers profissionais, comerciantes varejistas (de produtos plásticos) e especialistas teóricos (em estética, semântica, antropologia e teoria do design) atuantes na cidade de São Paulo. Ela se justificou pela importância e centralidade dos materiais plásticos para o design de produto, por sua capacidade de substituição de materiais, suas múltiplas potencialidades e diferentes formas de aplicação e apresentação, além de sua grande presença em produtos no dia-a-dia dos usuários. Buscou, assim, ampliar o conhecimento a respeito dos sentidos emprestados pelos usuários a este material. A investigação de campo baseou-se em métodos qualitativos de pesquisa, valendo-se, sobretudo, de entrevistas em profundidade semiestruturadas efetuadas com número elevado de usuários, designers profissionais, especialistas teóricos (em semântica, estética, antropologia e teoria do design) e comerciantes varejistas, conduzidas em residências, locais de atuação profissional e lojas comerciais. Também foi realizada ampla revisão da literatura especializada no campo do design, semântica do produto, experiência com produtos e materiais. Alguns resultados obtidos nesta pesquisa sugerem, por exemplo, que o material plástico adquire múltiplos entendimentos, que se afiguram estratificados, em correspondência com os vários níveis culturais de seus usuários, modificando-se de acordo com vários fatores e contextos em que se inserem. Assim, quanto a cada grupo de participantes observaram-se diferentes níveis de abstração na percepção do plástico, reflexo de aspectos culturais inerentes a cada um. Neste sentido, os resultados das análises efetuadas indicam nítidas diferenças de entendimentos, complexidade e grau de abstração na relação de usuários de produtos industrializados com a matéria plástica. / This qualitative and phenomenological study aimed to identify aspects of the perception regarding personal and/or household objects made with plastic. The study foscused especially on the the viewpoints of consumers, designers, retailers, and theoretical experts from the city of São Paulo. This study was conducted due to the importance and prevalence of plastic in product design, how it can replace other materials, its multiple capabilities, the different ways in which it can be applied and presented, and its presence in the daily lives of consumers. This study further aimed to broaden knowledges of what meaning consumers assign to plastic. Field research was based on qualitative methodology using in-depht semi-structured interviews conducted with a larger number of consumers, designers, theoretical experts (partcularly in the fields of semantics, aesthetics, anthropology, and design theory), and retailers. The interviews were carried out in consumers\' homes, work places, and stores. This study also included na extensive literature review in the field of design, product semantics, and experiences with products and materials. Some of the results suggest, for instance, plastic is perceived in multiple stratified ways according to users\' backgrounds. The perception also changes according to many factors and depending on the context. Thus, each subject showed different levels of abstraction for plastic as a reflection of their inherent cultural backgrounds. In this context, results analysis reveals clear differences in understanding, complexity and levels of abstraction between consumers of plastic products.

Les maisons intelligentes sont des habitations équipées de technologies de l'information et de la communication qui anticipent et répondent aux besoins des occupants. Malgré les nombreux travaux et solutions existants, seulement peu d'exemplaires de maisons intelligentes ont été construits et vendus. La raison cachée derrière cette lente diffusion est l'orientation technologique des approches existantes. Cette thèse de doctorat vise à démontrer qu'une maison intelligente peut fournir des fonctionnalités conçues avec une approche centrée utilisateur, en prenant en compte de considérations ergonomiques sur l'activité domestique et sur la cognition humaine. Ceci est réalisé en collaboration avec des ergonomes cognitifs, qui aident à "prendre garde" à l'écart entre le contexte humain et le contexte compréhensible par une machine. En utilisant une instrumentation légère, qui minimise les problèmes d'acceptabilité et de protection de la vie privée, ce travail de thèse a mené aux contributions suivantes: (i) la conception interdisciplinaire de fonctionnalités adaptées, en collaboration avec des ergonomes cognitifs; (ii) la conception d'un système sensible au contexte qui capture et raisonne sur des informations contextuelles incertaines de façon distribuée; (iii) la réalisation d'un prototype qui démontre la fourniture de fonctionnalités qui réalisent des économies d'énergie, tout en préservant le confort des habitants. / Smart homes are residences equipped with information and communication technologies that anticipate and respond to the needs of the occupants. Despite the numerous research and industrial efforts, today only few expensive smart homes have been built and sold. The reason behind this slow uptake is the technology-driven approach characterizing existing solutions. The doctoral Thesis aims at demonstrating that a smart home can provide functionalities designed with a user-centered approach, taking into account ergonomic considerations about domestic activity and human cognition. This is achieved in collaboration with cognitive ergonomists, which help "minding the gap" between human context and machine-understandable context. Using off-the-shelf and lightweight instrumentation (also minimizing privacy concerns), extending existing context modeling, reasoning and management tools and following the Ubiquitous Computing principles, the doctoral work led to the following achievements: (i) the inter-disciplinary design of suitable functionalities, in collaboration with cognitive ergonomists; (ii) the design of a context-aware system that captures and reasons about uncertain contextual information in a distributed fashion; (ii) the realization of a working prototype that demonstrates the provision of energy-saving and comfort-preserving functionalities.

Le processus de conception des interfaces homme-machine poids-lourd a été adapté afin de répondre aux enjeux humains et sécuritaires. Il est désormais largement admis que la participation des utilisateurs dans le processus de conception est un apport précieux. Actuellement dans l'industrie, les utilisateurs sont principalement impliqués lors des étapes d'analyse et d'évaluation des concepts, ces derniers étant définis par des professionnels. Cependant, la littérature dans d'autres domaines rapporte des bénéfices d’une autre forme d’implication des utilisateurs : la conception participative. Dans ce processus de conception, les utilisateurs sont impliqués tout au long du développement des produits, et en particulier lors de la définition des concepts. La conception participative permettrait un meilleur accès aux besoins des utilisateurs, à leurs attentes, et à leurs connaissances tacites. Ce projet a pour objectif d’étudier comment le niveau d’implication des conducteurs dans le processus de conception impacte l’utilisabilité, la distraction et l'acceptation des interfaces homme-machine poids-lourd. Après une analyse préalable du contexte d'utilisation, trois processus de conception de tableaux de bord ont été menés en parallèle à l’aide d’un équipement tactile. Les résultats de ces trois processus, ayant des niveaux d’implication différents, ont été évalués et comparés dans une expérience sur simulateur de conduite. Les résultats ne permettent pas de démontrer qu’une conception participative a un impact significatif sur l’utilisabilité, la distraction et l’acceptation. Cette thèse se conclut par des recommandations aux praticiens et des perspectives de recherche. / The design process of trucks human-machine interfaces has been adapted to address human factors and road safety issues. It is now widely accepted that user involvement in the design process is valuable. Currently in industry, users are mainly involved in the stages of analysis and evaluation of concepts, the latter being defined by professionals. However, the literature in other fields reports benefits of a broader form of user involvement: participatory design. In this design process, users are involved all along products development, and particularly during concepts design. Participatory design would allow better access to users' needs, expectations, and tacit knowledge. The objective of this project is to study how the level of drivers’ involvement in the design process impacts the usability, distraction and acceptance of trucks human-machine interfaces. After a preliminary analysis of the context of use, three instrument cluster design processes were conducted in parallel using a tactile equipment. The outcomes of these three processes, differing in level of user involvement, were evaluated and compared in a driving simulator experiment. The results do not enable to demonstrate that participatory design has a significant impact on usability, distraction and acceptance. This thesis concludes with recommendations to practitioners and research perspectives.