By David Hanley, Tess Hartigan, Juan Borrero, Mike Rogers
Simplicity: What I noticed above all else is that people value simplicity. Many posts praised his or her journal bases on the face that it fit perfectly on a desk, it was lightweight and portable, and the pen did not go through the paper. Conversely, across the board posts bemoaned complicated printers and DVRs. Whether describing the impossibility of assembling the ink cartridge, paper tray, and printer apparatus to make a complete unwieldy printer, or the rainbow array of buttons and controls that comprise a DVR’s console, students underscored how these two products had terrible human fit.
Psychological Comfort: I noticed that almost everyone required some sort of comfort from the product they were using. This did not necessarily mean physical comfort, as in the comfort from having Nike shoes that fit. Rather, many saw comfort as the psychological state that came from a product that was dependable, durable, and of high quality. Maybe most interesting was the sensory comfort that several people talked about in their posts. For example, one student commented that the smell of men's deodorant reminds her of her best friend from back home and how that made her feel good.
What Works For Some, Form and Function: Another interesting point was the fact that the human fit of a certain a product varied across brands and sometimes not in a foreseeable way. For instance, Montblanc is arguably the world's most famous pen brand, therefore, a great fitting Montblanc pen should not be a surprise to anybody, but one of the posts mentioned how Bic pens had a great human fit, putting them in the same category in terms of human fit with Montblanc pens. On the other hand, someone else complained that Parker pens had a terrible fit, especially for left handed people. These comparisons are very interesting to look at because it shows how human fit is also independent to the user of a certain product.
Along those same lines, there were multiple posts that mentioned backpacks as products with great human fit. Not surprisingly however, there was one post in particular in which the author mentioned her backpack looked great but had terrible fit, especially when full. This also brings up another important topic: aesthetics vs fit. A product can be beautiful to watch, very modern and fashionable, but at the same time lack human fit. Consequently, a characteristic of products with good human fit is a connection between form and function, between looks and function, because there is no point in having something that looks good but is not useful or comfortable.
Along the Same Lines: One of the motifs I found throughout the human fit responses, was ease of use, and as a corollary, clear thinking on the designer's behalf in accounting for the proper use of the product, not only for its 'intended' audience, but for a number of demographics. The best response I saw focused on a certain luxury fountain pen, which worked very well for right-handed users as the natural dragging motion allowed the a consistent flow of ink, but had poor functionality when used by left-handers. The ability of a designer to preempt and plan for a wide range of users such that users have to do little or nothing in the way of accommodation for proper functionality is characteristic of a product's human fit.
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