Abstract for "Designing for Use"

Designing For Use
Including features people need and don't know it
Dr. Ron Graham
Stark State University
Fall 2012

Abstract

This course is about design considerations for the engineer. In our profession, we often focus on the thing an object (e.g. machine, structure, program) is supposed to do, rather than the wider needs of an end user.

How do I make it work?
How do I know it's working?
What do I do if it's not?
How do I make it work better?

I dealt with some consequences of bad answers (or no answers) to these questions in “When Things Break.” And as in that class, I can't bring myself to blame engineers, or the profession as a whole, for whatever mistakes in design we may have made over the years. In this case, however, I will blame an engineer for not modifying a design to accommodate the needs of users, once those needs are known. I will also blame an engineer for not trying to know what users need. They're more important than we are in this context, and we let them down if we work in isolation from them.

In this course, we will concentrate on improvements that can be made in existing products, and on ties between families of existing devices that lead to new inventions:

A joining of existing devices.
The repetition, relocation or replacement of features.
Disposable sections.
Simple human interfaces.

Design changes focus on durability, portability, simplicity of human interface and performance. Such focus, in purpose and measurable standards, separates invention from Darwinian evolution. Because we're interested in end-user response to our designs, we'll focus especially on user interfaces. Those, in particular, will not evolve on their own.

Engineer, do you want to do good in the world? Then remember Samuel Florman's words:

The conscientious, effective engineer is a virtuous engineer.

For purposes of this course, a useful design, especially of a human interface, follows these characteristics:

The user can look at it and determine its purpose.
The interface gives the user feedback when a command is issued, a switch thrown or a button pressed.
The device, if it is potentially hazardous, offers an emergency shutdown feature if that is possible, and offers alarms otherwise.
Both device and interface “fail safe.”

It is worth remembering the working definition of failure we used in "When Things Break":

failure (n) – malfunction plus loss of opportunity

The text that accompanies this course is Designing for Users, edited by Ron Graham. This is a PDF, and you can receive it via e-mail during the first break in the course. If you are able to read more, the works of Donald Norman are among the best you can find in this subject.

Contents

Definitions of terms

Examples of classic bad designs, especially the unexpected

apply frequently-taken actions to wrong situation
take the wrong action with the right intent
take the wrong action based on the right information
take the wrong action because it's similar to the right action
forget what the right action is
choose the wrong action when more than one is possible
many others (if time permits)

Lessons learned

Innovation
Intellectual Property
Prototyping
Testing
Release

Sources

Note: most of these sources were gathered within the first few years after this book was first organized. This is to say that there are few entries on this list dated long after 2000. Despite the classic nature of the information in the texts listed here, I welcome suggestions for new texts – and I read them. Please feel free to make suggestions.

Kidder, T. The Soul of a New Machine
Norman, D. The Psychology of Everyday Things
Norman, D. The Design of Everyday Things
Rich & Janos, Skunk Works
Wiener, N. The Care and Feeding of Ideas

Contact

Dr. Ron Graham is Principal of Clarity Strategic, based in the Akron, OH area.

Clarity provides among its services the following:

Social media presence, marketing, and integration with company Web site
Documentation of products, services, and processes
Development of e-books and other media for sale or public relations
Prototyping of new products and services
Development of staff, especially new employees and engineers / technical staff

Here's how you reach Ron:

phone 330.294.8000
e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Facebook http://facebook.com/ron.graham
LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/in/rongraham
Twitter http://twitter.com/rongraham1

You might like Ron's other engineering-related courses:

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