استفاده از دانش ارگونومیک توسط دانشجویان کارشناسی طراحی محصولات : FAULisbon به عنوان یک مطالعه موردی

In a period of significant change when contemporary society has demonstrated to be more conscious about the principle of accessibility, being no longer focused on accommodating people with disabilities, the current challenge involves the enhancement of inclusive design development. Design education and training has a primary role on the formation of this new mentality, providing the adequate professional skills and instilling in students the knowledge about human limitations and capacities for product design project support. So this paper, as part of a PhD research focused on product design curricula adequacy to business challenges, aims to underline the importance of teaching ergonomics to designers. It is the second part of a specific study about the presence of human factors and ergonomics (HFE) contents in the academic curricula of industrial/product design in Portugal. Using FAULisbon as a case study of a Portuguese institution, we examined the current varying HFE knowledge of undergraduate students in Design in a twofold perspective: the one of the students themselves and the one resulting from the examination of their project solutions. The results underline the relevance of three aspects: a) the HFE principles should be earlier transmitted in the education process; b) the contact and learning of tools and methods of HFE shouldn’t be taught and practiced in an isolated way, instead they should be articulated with the design studio course; and c) this approach should be more practical than theoretical. This way, students could be more conscious about inclusivity and usability of products and spaces, with the focus on a user centered approach. In the future, this will allow them to respond with more social sustainable projects, increasing the chances of being more prepared and adjusted to the market and its demands.