Scholarly record
ERGONOMICS FOR THE ELDERLY AS THE TOPICAL CRITERION FOR INDUSTRIAL DESIGN CREATION
Abstract
The study looks at the aspect of ergonomic demands of seniors relevant to the industrial design. This category of people was in the past ignored. However the percentage of older people is increasing, therefore it can be expected that in the future specialized products for older people will be developed. We will introduce ergonomic demands of elderly people applicable to the area of industrial design. It is a set of specific criteria of this age group for the anthropometric, psychophysiological, psychological, hygienic, and safety areas and their link to the basic procedures, applicable to the industrial design. We determined 4 fields of industrial design (instruments and tools and consumer goods, furniture, PCs and mobile devices and electronics, small architecture and architectural elements in the interior) that are relevant to senior citizens. Individual categories we assigned with a set of aspects that a crucial and problematic from the perspective of senior citizens and whose achievement should not be forgotten. In the field of industrial design the easiest way to be solved is the anthropometric area- complying with dimensions, movement and action radius of older people and psychophysiological area, which may be obtained by direct measurements on representative samples of population. More complicated is accepting mental functions that are demonstrably changed in senior age, their identification is problematic and complying with them can be only general in the design phase of industrial product. Should a specific product be optimally designed to suit seniors, not only must such a product be aesthetically pleasing, but it also must satisfy the above-mentioned specific criteria, and offer this group of people a higher comfort both in the work and non-work activities.
Publication Impact Profile
Publication details
References10
Baltes M. , Carstensen L., The process of successful ageing, Ageing and Society, vol. 16/ issue 4, pp. 397-422, 1996
Cavanaugh J. C., Grady J.G., Perlmutter M., Forgetting and the use of memory aids in 20 to 70 year old’s everyday life, International Journal of Aging and Human Development, vol. 17/ issue 2, pp. 113-122, 1983
Demirbilek O., Demirkan H., Involving the elderly in the design process, Architectural Science Review, vol. 41/ issue 4, pp. 157–163, 1998
Holt R.C., Holt R.J., Gerotechnology: Kitchen aids, vol. 2/ issue 4, pp. 256-262, 2011
Horvat S., Grbac I., Inclusive design and third age design, Ergonomics 2007, Croatia, pp. 213-224, 2007
Imrhan S.N., Muscular strength in the elderly- implications for ergonomic design, International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, vol. 13/ issue 2, pp. 125-138, 1994
Jarosz E., Anthropometric data of the elderly for the needs of design, 2nd International Conference on Ergonomics and Safety for Global Business Quality and Productivity, Poland, pp. 267-270, 2000
Pinto M.R., De Medici S., Van Sant C., Bianchi A., Zlotnicki A., Napoli C., Ergonomics, gerotechnology and design for the home-environment, Applied Ergonomics, vol. 31/ issue 3, pp. 317–322, 2000
Rowe J.W., Kahn R.L., Human aging: usual and successful, Science, vol. 237/ issue 4811, pp.143-149, 1987
Tymkiewicz J., Bielak-Zasadzka M., The design thinking method in architectural design, particularly for designing senior homes, Architecture Civil Engineering Environment, vol. 9/ issue 1, pp. 43-48, 2016
View or Download full articleAccess options
SWS access login
Login as SWS Scientific CommitteeLogin as SWS Scientific PartnerLogin as SWS AuthorAuthors and approved SWS contributors will read and export their own linked papers after identity matching by SWS profile, email and SGEM GlobalID.
For librarian assistance: [email protected]
Purchase Instant Access
- Article can be downloaded after successful payment.
- Article may be used according to SWS library access terms.
- Article cannot be redistributed.
