INTEGRATING HUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS PRACTICES INTO DESIGN STUDIO COURSES THROUGH ACTION RESEARCH

Abstract

Industrial design is a discipline in which numerous information contents are synthesized. The success of the design outputs depends on the correct planning and management of the process in which a large amount of information that is the subject of the design is processed. While human factors and ergonomics provide theoretical information that can be input to the design, it possess also applied contents. Theoretical information would be sufficient in some design studies, whereas the applied studies within the framework of human factors and ergonomics are performed in some other studies. Being able to correctly give the relevant formation to the designers depends on the fact that the theoretical and practical content of design education is in a structure where they are synthesized in a certain harmony. In addition, although intuitive design behaviors can generate subjective results, it should be aimed that the objective evaluation processes can achieve tangible results that can be held accountable and that the foresight skills of the designer candidates should be developed in this direction. In the light of this information, experimental studies have been carried out within the action research framework towards the use of objective information sources in the design process. As a result of the studies, while the tangible design outputs that can be evaluated from an objective point of view were reached, it was also determined that the applied methods made contributions in the learning motivation.