Francesca Tosi

Wearables are the cutting edge of electronic devices; as they are miniaturized, people can directly wear them, generating a continuous interaction with computers. The implementation of wearables in everyday life is going to change completely human behaviours. These devices create human-computer interaction potentialities that can be addressed to several directions: taking care of people, leading people to a different behaviour model for changing social dynamics, turning these ubiquitous computers into a “collective wearable”. There is a global adoption of the preventive approach to health: it consists of measures taken for disease prevention, as opposed to disease treatment. There is also an increasing attention to security and to risk management in the sanitary field in terms of products, ergonomic communication and innovation of processes. Moreover, users demand to know their real wellness status, independently of the individual perception. It’s necessary to inform users about the biofeedback recorded by wearable devices, but it is essential to effectively communicating them to caregivers or patients. This paper, presenting some results of interaction design research for human wellbeing and healthcare, explores tangible interfaces focused on biomedical fields: it concerns security, stress management, collection of biofeedback for preventive healthcare and also emotional issues connected with the human-computer interaction.

The product falls within the research area Ergonomics in Design. In particular, the methodological approach of Human-centred Design and User Experience are here applied to demonstrate its efficacy in defining the current levels of usability and experience of use of rowing “Skillirow”. To this aim, a workshop “UX Skillrow Evaluation” was organized by Laboratory of Ergonomics for Design (LED) in collaboration with Technogym Spa, a leading-edge company that develops fitness equipment for any physical activity. In the initial testing phase usability and user experience (phase 1: UX evaluation) of rowing Skillrow and its user interfaces were assessed. Afterwards, to identify the potential of the Skillrow, project proposals, brainstorming and focus group activities were conducted. During testing twenty-one users participated, aged between 22 and 30. The research goals were: measurements of current usability level and user experience of product system interfaces, and definition of critical issues and implementation of the current user interfaces. The results from the evaluation phases allowed to get qualitative data on the levels of effective usability of the product, the components, and its graphic interface. In the form of scenario-based design, solutions to improve the current high levels of usability of the user interface were also developed. Lastly, it was possible to define a protocol for evaluating usability and user experience, which will make it possible to replicate the analysis model on similar product categories.

Ergonomics is the term used to define both the set of the interdisciplinary knowledge on Human Factor (coming from psychology, medical disciplines, engineering and design), and the and the set of methods and procedures - specific to Human-Centered Design and User Experience - aimed at assessing the needs of people in their interaction with products, environments, services and, more generally, systems with which they enter into relationships during their work and daily life activities. The Ergonomics knowledge and intervention methods are today strategic factors of innovation both of product/system and design and production process and, at the same time, a central component of the culture and the practice of the project, and in particular of Design for a long time innovation-oriented – in technological and formal senses- and closely linked to reality of industrial production. And it is the Design that today offers to Ergonomics instruments and grounds for experimentation radically new compared to the past - from the design of everyday products to the design of services, from the design of the digital interface to the Internet of things (IOT) - and to make available the design vision and synthesis ability, and of course the intervention solutions, capable of responding to people needs, expectations and desires. This volume deals with the themes of Ergonomics in relation to Design - and vice versa - and therefore presents a reading strongly oriented to the specificity of Design, understood in the Italian meaning of the term, that is in its different declensions of Product design (physical and virtual), Interior, Communication and Fashion design, based on the design synthesis of humanistic, artistic, technological, and social knowledge and skills. Particularly current theme today, given the growing role of Ergonomics within of companies that produce products and services, and given the proximity, up to their overlap and integration, of Human-Centered Design (HCD), User Experience (UX) and Design Thinking evaluation and design methods.

The product falls within the research sector of Design for Inclusion/Design for All and Design for Accessibility. To date, outdoor game equipment and playground facilities worldwide are increasingly oriented towards a wide range of solutions in support to gaming activities for children of any age, independently from their motor, cognitive and social impairments. However, due to the complexity of variables interplaying between product demands and user capabilities, many efforts are still needed for making games and playgrounds as much as possible inclusive. The present work proposes a novel methodology useful to designers and other stakeholders for predicting the degree of user exclusion when performing play activities. User trials, focus groups, interviews together with the analysis of accessibility standards, disability descriptors by ICF, and Task Analysis were used for cross-correlating the required tasks with user capabilities. This led to creating an evaluation tool useful to get an immediate feedback and reliable information on the level of inclusiveness of any type of game equipment and user disability. It revealed to be also effective for assessing personal and environmental factors of interest and identifying design requirements. The work was developed within the PIU project - Progetto di Innovazione Urbana Comune di Cecina - financed by the Tuscany region/FESR 2014-2020 (D.R. n. 3197 del 10.07.2015).

The article focuses on the evolution of design education from the 1960s to the present day, discussing its current characteristics and its relationship with the economic and production system. It also presents and discusses data on educational opportunities and the employment status of industrial design and design graduates, compiled from MIUR and Almalaurea sources by CUID, the Italian University Conference of Design.