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This paper discusses a successful attempt to improve the design of a communications terminal for professional applications involving significant improvements to customer and operator contact, and improving the level of operator focus during the design phase. This included visits to sites to capture requirements through interview and observation of working practices, and to get insight into typical communication tasks. A clear task focus was maintained during the design phase by using a dialogue description tool, the Task Action Description, developed in-house to support the integration of the dialogue specification, the graphic design and the software design. Customer and operator feedback on the design was obtained. The value of team work is also discussed. The success of the design can be attributed to a direct involvement of users in the development process and to the integration of human factors specialists, graphic designers, software engineers and marketing experts in the development team. The conclusions drawn highlight: (1) the importance of direct first hand exposure to the daily working environment of the operators by the team as a whole; (2) the problem of how to articulate operator requirements in such a form that they are taken into account in the design development; and (3) the progressive evolution of organisations and changes in work practices.

This paper reviews the relationship betweenergonomicsand industrial designbased on papers presented at the ‘Marketing Ergonomics’ conference. The discussion is organized under the sections: know your user, what should we influence? use of basic data and information, research methods and techniques, concluding remarks. The main conclusions are that the effective application of ergonomics willdepend on the ergonomist being an active participant in the design process. The ergonomists must also see their role in strategic terms in relation to the objectiveof synthesizingappropriate designsolutions. The demand that high levelsof usability are designed into products must be placed on the design process as much as on the individual designer.It is argued that influencingthe attitudes and skillsof individual designers is necessary but not sufficient to ensure that ergonomics issues receive appropriate attention during product development.

At the current level of membership examination fees at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a resident in psychiatry who passes every part first time pays a total of £2136.[1][1] These costs are intended to cover only expenses rather than to generate profit, a message which many of us have accepted

This study was conducted in order to obtain basic anthropometric data, not available elsewhere, on the human body with respect to the use of w.c. seats. The method used was an adaption of the somatotype photographic technique and relevant body dimensions were measured from tho photographic prints. The subjects were recruited from the general public, and consisted of able-bodied adult men and women within the age group 18 to 81 yr Measurements of 10 body dimensions of 140 subjects adopting three postures appropriate to w.e. pan use are given, together with the implications thereof for w.c. seat design. Comparison is made between measurements so obtained and these of currently recommended w.c. pan dimensions.