PRODUCT DESIGN
01/
SUMMARY
CLIENT
Chinese coach and bus manufacturer
MY ROLE
Lead human factors researcher
OBJECTIVE
Provide human factors input into the design of the driver and passenger environments of a luxury coach
APPROACH
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Desk research
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Evaluation of passenger and driver seats using anthropometric modelling and user comfort testing
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Contextual research of a coach journey in China
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Interviews with coach drivers in China and UK
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Driver cab layout assessments with coach drivers in China
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Cab mock-up evaluation with coach drivers in the UK
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Human factors evaluations of proposed driver and passenger environments
OUTCOMES
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Identification of passenger and driver needs
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Selection of driver and passenger seats
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Cab control layout design
02/
OBJECTIVE
My client, a leading coach and bus manufacturer based in China, commissioned my consultancy to design the interior of their next luxury long-distance coach.
The client wanted the coach to be best-in-class and have the needs of the passengers and drivers incorporated into the design.
My role was to provide the human factors research and design input to the project.
03/
APPROACH
A mixed methods approach was taken to deliver the best outcome for the client. This involved:
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Conducting desk research to identify and characterise different passenger groups and travel trends in China
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Using drawings of proposed driver and passenger seats to perform a desk-based assessment of their suitability, based on anthropometric data
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Visiting the seat manufacturer in China and conducting user comfort and reach assessments of three passenger seats and two drivers seats with several members of staff
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Conducting contextual research of a coach journey in China, i.e. observing and interviewing passengers and drivers to understand their experiences and needs of coach travel
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Interviewing the client’s test drivers about their experience of the cab environment, use of the controls and displays and performing a reach assessment of the cab in an existing coach model
The insights gained from this approach enabled me to identify key needs of passengers and drivers and informed the second design stage activities:
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Creating a mock-up of a cab and evaluating the grouping and positioning of displays and controls with the help of two UK coach drivers
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Providing human factors assessments of the proposed passenger and driver environments created by my industrial design colleagues
04/
CHALLENGES
Working with a client based in China created several interesting challenges, such as:
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Building rapport with stakeholders from a culture I was largely unfamiliar with
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Communicating with stakeholders and research participants through a translator
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Having to perform seat comfort evaluations with people who manufacture the seats in front of their senior management team (far from ideal in terms of ensuring unbiased feedback but necessary to get the work completed in the time I had available)
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Designing for Chinese passengers and drivers, who have different anthropometric characteristics to the UK population
05/
OUTCOMES
My selection of passenger and driver seats, design of the driver’s cab controls and displays layout and the human factors input into the whole interior environment contributed to the winning of a European Product Design Award and a Good Design award.
Identifying passenger and driver needs through taking a mixed methods approach provided a solid base of evidence for the follow-up coach design projects the client and my colleagues worked on.
