Ergonomics

Design for extremes

Our last blog talked about “designing for average”, but designing for average doesn’t just mean thinking about height; we also need to consider age and weight. Josie recently tuned in to Humantech’s Webinar on Designing the Workplace for the Aging and Obese Population… kind of a touchy subject. But the presentation definitely reminded us of […]
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16 Oct, 14

Design for average – why not?

At the 2014 Association of Canadian Ergonomists conference in Montreal, we presented a paper on design for average. Sometimes we do this….when you install a counter in your kitchen, or buy a “one-size-fits-all” hand tool, you’re probably considering an “average” user. Usually, this works just fine for most people. But occasionally, the “design-for-average” decision can have […]
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10 Sep, 14

Don’t just sit there!

We’ve all seen it. The graphic of the office worker sitting with the arms and hips bent at 90 degrees and the back rigidly upright has been used over and over as a reference for how we should sit. “Ergonomically correct.” “Proper,” as our mothers used to say. If our mothers could direct our office […]
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16 Jul, 14

Sharp knife requires less effort

Years ago, I would have been disappointed to receive kitchen utensils as a birthday gift, but this year, when I was given a set of new knives, I was quite excited. In the past few months, I’ve noticed that cutting is more work than it used to be – I worried that this was a […]
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10 Apr, 14

Ergonomically designed, or marketed?

We’ve all seen items marketed as “ergonomically designed”, which typically means that a coat of rubber has been slapped around the handle, or the item is bent or angled in some way that makes it more comfortable to use. (Consider pens, shovels, keyboards, etc.) We recently came across an ad in the Toronto Star that […]
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24 Feb, 14

The screen vs. paper stand-off

Does your brain prefer paper? In our office, we’ve discovered a “gender gap”. Karen and Carrie prefer to print documents and edit with pen on paper. We find this practice more comfortable, and faster. However, the younger generation prefers to read documents on the screen, and track changes electronically.  I have an e-reader, which I […]
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30 Dec, 13

Sleep tight

Sleep has a major influence over how people, both children and adults, function, think, and perform during the day. When we are really busy, such as during the holidays, we often short-change ourselves on sleep. We can easily recognise when our kids haven’t had enough sleep, through their behaviour. We don’t always recognise the cause […]
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