ADS 300, UX Design Methods, Spring 2022
Tuesday / Thursday @ 4:00-5:15pm
Marvin 216B
Matt Kirkland / mattk@ku.edu

Week 3

February 1 / 3

How do I design for people with bodies?

After this week you're going to have a broad understanding of design *challenges* and design *tools* for those people made of meat that you want to use your stuff.

We'll cover: Human Factors: bodies and brains. Brains are part of bodies. Earliest study: ergonomics. Physical measurements. Anthropometrics. Military body surveys / data. Cockpit design. Exclusion based on deviation from the norm. There is no average person. Psychological measurements equivalent to ergonomics: reaction times. working memory. reading speeds. Fatigue. Distraction. Fitt's Law. Accessibility. ADA. Abled-ness as temporal blip. Universal design. Benefits for all.

• If you're designing a physical thing: how big are handles? how long is a leg?
• If you're designing a print graphic: how fast do people read? from how far away? what about if they are also listening to a podcast at the same time? What colors are visible to which people?
• If you're designing a phone app: how big is a finger? when does an animation feel slow? When does Fitt's law help?
• If you're designing interior architecture: how wide should a door be? how tall should a light switch be? how do people move through an unfamiliar space?

Resources

• Sara Hendren talk
• Hendren's Engineering at Home
• Intro to cogsci for UX
• Short video on Fitt's Law

Assignment

For Thursday February 3:
• Watch the Sara Hendren talk: https://vimeo.com/243872488
• Be ready for a ^tinyquiz on Thursday

For Tuesday Febuary 8 - by 8am!
• Choose a flavor of human factors research that can apply to your Workbench Project. This could be a cognitive science question, or an ergonomics question, etc. Think about how this might apply to your project!
• Pose yourself a question that relates to your Workbench Project
• Research that question!
• Fill in the Workbench Report form. Find that link on the Workbench page