Journal of Ergonomics

Introduction: The importance of product design has been dramatically increased in recent years due to economic considerations as well as changes in user preferences, policy making and legal needs. In response to this, and as one of the most influential branches in the field of product design (in terms of the fit between product and user), ergonomics has also been developed proportionally. The aim of this study was to review the most important considerations and different traditional and new approaches in product design as well as challenges and limitations in this regard.

Methods: A review was made of the relevant electronic databases including Ergonomics Abstracts, PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus and Google Scholar using the following keywords: product, design, ergonomic, design procedures and design approach. The search was limited to full text articles in the English language, published in peer reviewed journals between 1990 and 2015.

Results: Comparison of the traditional and new approaches in product design indicated that the new approaches helped designers to choose the best product model based on various aspects and a more detailed interaction between user and product. Ergonomic considerations in product design also include engineering and psychological aspects as well as taking into account abilities and limitations of both products and users, to find a good fit between user and product.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that the traditional approaches in product design alone may not anymore guarantee the success of a product in the market, particularly in universal scale and for a wide range of users. In other words, consideration of various technical (in terms of user-product interaction) and legal (environment, sustainability, cost benefit, etc.) aspects in new ergonomic approaches may be taken into account to improve the quality and success of the products in the global market. Ergonomists may encounter with some challenges to achieve this goal, but high-quality ergonomics services can be considered as an effective solution in this regard.