It is not only about products but organisational systems. Ergonomics is described as the science of everyday life and can be applied, as a result of research, to create user-friendly tape measures and remote controls, as well as transport and medical care services.
Dr Mark Young, Senior Lecturer at the Human-Centred Design Institute at Brunel University in West London, the leading partner of the exhibition, explained: “You could call it 'evidence-based' design.
“Our size and shape, how we move, what we see, hear and feel and how we think, all this information has been collated and applied by ergonomists to aid the design of both everyday and extraordinary objects.“
The show marks the 60th anniversary of the Ergonomics Society. Its founder member, Hywel Murrell created the word by joining together two Greek words ergos and nomos (meaning work and natural laws).
The exhibition, which was made possible with a grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), runs until 7 March 2010.
For more information and tickets, visit www.designmuseum.org/exhibitions and www.realdesign.org
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Note to Editors
The partners are Brunel University, Loughborough University, Laura Grant Associates and the Design Museum. Dr Mark Young, and/or Brunel design researcher Fergus Bisset and/or exhibition curator Gemma Curtin are available for interview.
For further information and images, please contact Ashley Woodfield at the Design Museum Press Office on 0207 940 8787/ Ashley@designmuseum.org
Or, the Brunel University Press Office: press-office@brunel.ac.uk
Image: Yellow sign