Ergonomics
Many
of the factors in designing seats are down to Ergonomics. Ergonomics is
about making things easy and comfortable for people to use.
Seats
need to support different parts of the human body such as the back, thighs
and shoulders. If they don't, the passenger will suffer pain in their
body over time.
Most car seats are adjustable. They can recline, go up or down, and go backwards and forwards. The handles and buttons for adjustment need to be easy and safe to use.
Train
seats need to be comfortable for everyone to use but because of space
limitations, they are rarely adjustable. This provides designers with
a problem. How do you make the same seat comfortable for a three year
old child and a tall adult? Even people of the same height have different
sized feet, legs and backs.
Take two different types of chairs; measure and compare their dimensions and angles.
Get people of different heights to sit in the chair and record their 'user experience'. Is it comfortable or do they feel pain or pressure in particular parts of their bodies? Do they like the appearance of the chairs and the way they feel (tactile qualities).
Repeat the experiment with people of a similar height. Do they have the same comments about its comfort?
You can download images from the Gallery to provide pictures for creating timelines in class.
