Controlling the inputs of hand tool development through design research

Designers of medical and non medical hand tools need human factors and usability inputs to develop successful and safe products. There are a multitude of documented processes and methodologies within the design profession to gather inputs with usability implications for hand tool design. In addition to the variety of methodologies available, designers can make use of formally published human factors guidelines, reference books, literature and standards. In practice, the challenge with formal methods and reference material is that they may not always be in scope, within budget, readily on hand, or actionable. To overcome these limitations and identify the reality of the design process, it is important to examine how human factors and usability decisions are made within the industrial design profession.;The aim of this thesis is to assess how designers make form influencing decisions. Semi structured interviews were conducted with 18 professional industrial designers regarding their design methodology on real world products. The fully transcribed interviews were coded in QSR Nvivo10 using a thematic and descriptive coding process. The objective of the study was to identify the inputs designers used to define handle: shape, size, and form language, as well as control: type(s), size(s) and placement location(s). The study findings report the inputs designers referenced and the connection of those inputs to the outputs of the development process. The results indicate that observation is not explicitly expressed as a primary input to the form and control development process. Notwithstanding, many of the primary inputs documented can be traced back to the ethnography/observational phase of the design process.;This research has implications for the development of human factors materials for industrial designers, the education and curriculum of industrial design, and for the further advancement of the industrial design profession.