04.06.2011
Rebecca Pezdek /
Clients in the News /
Design Research /
Ergonomics /
Human Factors /
Industrial Design /
New Technology /
News /
Usability
Kroger’s new Advantage Checkout ScanTunnel was recognized as a top innovation at the National Retail Federation’s annual Big Show this January 2011. Throughout 2010 Kroger has been working with HumanCentric’s Usability Specialists, Industrial Designers and Graphic Designers in order to design all aspects of the ScanTunnel that are user-related. HumanCentric provided ergonomic recommendations for component layouts, customer and associate work flow analysis, product form factor options, and graphic signage in addition to observing shoppers and sales associates during the checkout process both with and without the ScanTunnel technology.
The final ScanTunnel design has resulted in a revolutionary new approach to Point of Sale and retail checkout that involves high speed imaging of bar codes or other identifiers to reduce labor costs and high speed conveyors send groceries through the checkout process in half the time.
05.28.2010
Sean Farres /
Creativity /
Graphic Design /
News /
Transportation
The environmental catastrophe happening in the Gulf is horrific. No one really understands the ecological consequences from this mistake yet. In a CBS survey, 70 percent disapproved of BP’s response. Designers agree too and are using their voice to express their disapproval. Greenpeace is asking for a redesign of BP’s logo.
View Logo Gallery
Enter the Greenpeace BP logo redesign competition
Learn more about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
01.20.2010
Sean Farres /
News
Dan Mauney is an invited speaker at the next Office of Ergonomics Research Committee (OERC) conference scheduled for January 26 & 27 in San Ramon, CA.
Dan will present new results from an international gesture research project, a topic Dan recently presented at the HFES conference in San Antonio. The research collected data from hundreds of people in 9 countries to understand which touch gestures are considered to be common, expected, or universally accepted. Research participants simulated 28 common software actions such as selecting, moving, rotating, saving, and using a help system while study moderators categorized the type of gestures made. The work was sponsored by several companies participating in the International Usability Partners with the goal of better understanding gestures across cultures and openly sharing the research with interested parties. Dan is releasing regular blog posts about the study at http://www.humancentric.com/GestureResearch .
The OERC holds regular conferences that bring together member companies such as Apple Computer, Research in Motion, Steelcase and others that share common interests in ergonomics, software, and hardware design.
09.28.2009
Mark Dezelon /
Consumer Products /
Human Factors /
Industrial Design /
News /
User Research
HumanCentric contributed to an article on industrial design in the September issue of Appliance Design magazine. Dr. Barry Beith, founder and CEO, along with Brian Chiarizia, IDSA, Manager of Industrial Design, and Dr. Christina Mendat, Manager and Senior Human Factors Specialist, contributed their thoughts to the importance of functionality and human factors when it comes to product design of professional and commercial appliances.
In the article titled Design that Means Business by Steve Wichelecki, Brian noted that the size and use of many professional/commercial appliances have potential safety hazards that must be considered in the product’s functionality. Barry added to that by stating, “regardless of whether the design of a professional/commercial or consumer appliance is in question, products need to be safe, perform to consumer quality expectations, and be intuitive/easy to learn.”
Christina expands on the approach of designing appliances by discussing various methods to uncover user needs. “Within each area there will be a great amount of variability in terms of day-to-day interaction, pain points and general perceptions; therefore, it is important that research involve as many participants as possible, collecting both qualitative and quantitative data.” She cites ethnography and task analysis as methods for understanding user needs.
Brian and Christina represent the complimentary skill sets of design and research at HumanCentric, where the integration of these disciplines is leveraged on all projects for a variety of clients in the following domains: consumer products, transportation, telecom, web/software and medical. While at HumanCentric, Brian and Christina have partnered on such diverse products as small cooking appliances, a dry powder inhaler, a zero-turn lawn mower and a next-generation gaming console interface.
Appliance Design is a publication with a focus on design and engineering in the appliance industry. For more information, read the full article at http://tinyurl.com/yapq4p5.
08.08.2009
Mark Dezelon /
Consumer Products /
Industrial Design /
Medical /
News
HumanCentric is pleased to announce a new strategic partnership formed today with Stander, Inc. Founded by Jan Miller in 1998, Stander is a manufacturer of innovative mobility solutions for beds, bathrooms, couches, and automobiles. The new partnership brings together the core disciplines of human factors, product design and usability, which help create desirable and easy-to-use assistive products such as bed rails, walkers, canes and grab-bars.
“The aging baby boomer generation will soon need (and demand) assistive devices that are well-designed, attractive and able to fit into their active lifestyles. Stander’s commitment to excellence in product design and customer service makes it a natural choice to form a partnership. Our collective product design teams and researchers help fine-tune designs that are in the planning stages, so that the best designs are ultimately put into the hands of millions,” said Barry Beith, Ph.D., CEO and Chief Technical Officer, HumanCentric.
“Stander is committed to bringing new assistive technologies to the aging community. Our customers, ‘the baby boomers,’ demand high quality products that are functional and aesthetically pleasing. HumanCentric’s researched-based designs give a focus to safety and usability. Combined with Stander’s commitment to excellence and listening to our customers needs, this joint venture is a recipe for success. We are honored to be in partnership with HumanCentric,” said Jan Miller, President of Stander Inc.
06.18.2009
Mark Dezelon /
Human Factors /
News /
Usability /
User Research
Jon Howarth published in the June 2009 issue of the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies an article titled “Supporting novice usability practitioners with usability engineering tools”.
The article describes an approach to addressing difficulties experienced by novice usability practitioners.
Abstract: Although usability practitioners have successfully applied usability engineering processes to increase the usability of interaction designs, the literature suggests that usability practitioners experience a number of difficulties that negatively impact the effectiveness of their work, which in turn affects the effectiveness of the usability engineering processes within which they work. These difficulties include identifying and recording critical usability data and understanding and establishing relationships among usability data. These difficulties are particularly pronounced for novice usability practitioners. One approach to addressing these difficulties is through appropriate usability engineering tool support. We argue that existing usability engineering tools offer excellent support for helping experienced usability practitioners more efficiently do their jobs, but they provide little support for helping novice usability practitioners more effectively do their jobs. We introduce a tool feature, usability problem instance records, to better support novice usability practitioners. We describe the results of a study of this feature, which suggest that the feature helps to improve two aspects of the effectiveness of novice usability practitioners: reliability and quality.
The article is available here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2009.02.003.
