J. Mark Porter’s research while affiliated with Loughborough University and other places

This is a conference paper. This paper describes research carried out into the area of accessibility and 'design for all'. The Accessibility and User Needs in Transport (AUNT-SUE) project was initiated to develop and test sustainable policies and practice that would deliver effective socially inclusive design and operation in transport and the public realm. Loughborough University's role in the project focuses on the provision of data on users that is accessible, valid, and applicable and a means of utilising the data to assess the accessibility of designs during the early stages of development. These needs have led to the development of the authors' inclusive design tool called HADRIAN. Data were collected on 100 people the majority of whom are older or have some form of impairment. These data include size, shape, capability, preferences and experiences with a range of daily activities and transport related tasks. These are partnered with a simple task analysis system. The system supports the construction of a task linked to a CAD model of a design to be evaluated. The task is then carried out by the virtual individuals in the database. Accessibility issues are reported by the system allowing excluded people to be investigated. Thus HADRIAN supports designers and ergonomists in attempting to 'design for all' by fostering empathy with the intended users, meeting their data needs through an accessible and applicable database and providing a means of gaining some of the feedback possible with a real user trial at a much earlier stage in the design process. Accepted for publication

This paper describes research carried out at Loughborough University in the UK into the areas of 'design for all' and accessible transport. The research addresses two common needs for designers and ergonomists working towards developing more inclusive products and environments, namely data on users that is accessible, valid, and applicable and a means of utilising the data to assess the accessibility of designs during the early stages of development. HADRIAN is a computer-based inclusive design tool that has been developed to support designers in their efforts to develop products that meet the needs of a broader range of users. Currently HADRIAN is being expanded to support transport design. This includes data on an individual's ability to undertake a variety of transport-related tasks, such as vehicle ingress/egress, coping with uneven surfaces, steps, street furniture and complex pedestrian environments. The subsequent use of this data will be supported either through a task analysis system that will allow a designer to evaluate a design for a part of the transport infrastructure (ticket barrier, train carriage etc.), or alternatively allow the designer or an end user to evaluate a whole journey. The 'journey planner' feature of the HADRIAN tool will compare an individual's physical, cognitive and emotional abilities with the demands placed upon that individual by the mode(s) of transport available and the route options selected. It is envisaged that these developments will prove extremely useful to users, designers, planners and all those involved with transport use and implementation.

This chapter discusses RealPeople and how it is used to capture the emotions of product users. RealPeople is a DVD-based design resource, specified on the basis of interviews with designers. It is designed with the aim of making designers more aware of the specific characteristics of products that give pleasure to the people who own them. The context for RealPeople is a world of ergonomics that is becoming ever broader in terms of what designers are expected to understand about the users for whom they are designing. This goes beyond the physiological and psychological to the emotional. The resource contains information from an interview survey of 682 people concerning their attitudes toward functionality, usability, product pleasure, and product preference. However, the main feature of RealPeople is the in-depth interview of 100 people talking about their lifestyle, preferences for brands, and style in general and then describing three products that they own that give them the most pleasure. These descriptions are presented as 2-3 minute edited video clips, together with a breakdown of issues using the Four Pleasures framework. Each video clip is highly immersive, thought-provoking, and selected to encourage empathy between the designer and each individual in the database. The resource is currently being beta-tested by practicing designers.

This conference paper is Restricted Access. More information can be found at http://www.de2006.chalmers.se/m/ppd/de2006/index.xml HADRIAN was created to make a step-function change in the way that inclusive design is accepted and integrated within design practice. Tables of percentile data have now been replaced by holistic databases of individuals covering a wide range of sizes and abilities. Whilst the initial research focussed on physical and behavioural issues related to anthropometry and biomechanics, our current data collection also includes simple emotional and cognitive data within the tool. Details of HADRIAN are presented, including our ‘journey planner’ that is being developed that will compare an individual’s physical, cognitive and emotional abilities with the demands that will be placed upon that individual during the envisioned journey. If the journey is unachievable or very difficult, then that person is likely to feel socially excluded. It is intended that the planner will identify a suitable alternative route and/or choice of transport mode. Designers will also be able to use the planner to assess inclusive design issues for existing and new facilities. Restricted access

The BIONIC project (Blind Operation of In-car Controls) was set-up to develop an 'eyes-free' prototype interface, enabling drivers to access secondary and ancillary controls whilst minimising the visual demands within the car. This research was initiated out of concern for the increasing use of multi-function screen based interfaces that place an additional visual workload on the driver. BIONIC has created new guidelines for the design of highly tactile control interfaces, based upon a series of experimental studies and the development of prototype designs that are described in this paper. The first iteration prototype controls were assessed in a driving simulator trial. Second iteration working prototypes were then installed within a Honda Civic demonstrator vehicle and these novel controls were compared to the current interface in on-road trials. A strong emphasis was placed on measures that directly relate to safety, such as the number and duration of glances made to the control and/or display. A reduction in total glance duration of 10% was stated as our target in the grant proposal; the BIONIC interface achieved an overall reduction of 27% and 29% for the HVAC and SAT NAV tasks, respectively. The BIONIC ICE tasks required a 3% increase in total glance duration, but this was related to prototype build issues requiring a large number of button pushes to adjust the sound characteristics. Further analysis will remove this bias and it is expected that the ICE tasks will show similar reductions to the other tasks investigated.

Traditionally, the ergonomics input into the design process has focused on the physical and cognitive effort placed on the user; increasingly, designers are being encouraged to take an inclusive view of the individual by attempting to understand their emotional and 'pleasure' needs as well. Few of the methods that have been developed concerning user pleasure are available to the designer at an early stage in the design process, or in a format easily accessible to them with respect to their background and current working practices. In this paper the development of RealPeople; a DVD based 'pleasure resource' for designers is described; it is designed to inspire and inform the designer in the early stages of the design process; highlighting the key 'pleasure' needs of the target market and promoting greater empathy with the user. The resource that is being developed allows designers to specify a user group by selecting certain variables, and view statistically validated information concerning particular groups' generic attitudes towards products. They can also browse individual people's data, where there is more in-depth information about products that they find pleasurable, providing a more intimate portrait of different market segments. In order to produce such a resource, it was necessary to investigate the attitudes and needs of designers on the subject of 'pleasure' in design and the type of resource to ensure accessibility to them. Findings show that designers are aware of the necessity to satisfy the emotional needs of the user, but there has to be a compromise with other factors e.g. production costs. Those interviewed tended to rely upon 'quick and dirty' research methods, with few aware of techniques and data that relate specifically to user pleasure. They expressed great interest in a 'pleasure resource' that gave them access to information about specific market groups' emotional needs and the desirable characteristics of such a resource.