definitions

Human Factors in design is one of a number of overseeing titles for the study of the interaction between human beings and designed artifacts and environments.

It is concerned with designing environments for maximum health benefit and comfort of the users, whether a tractor driver’s cabin, an office building, or a children’s playground. It can be concerned with visual environments of urban and landscape design as well as an environment’s nuts-and-bolts functionality.

Human Factors in design involves ergonomics, but also includes architectural psychology, environmental psychology, environment - behaviour studies, person-environment studies (formerly man-environment studies, meaning human-environment studies).

Evaluation, or what is termed post-occupancy evaluation (POE) or building appraisal, is important for the discovery of problems in constructed environmental design (in blocks of flats, office buildings, theatres, supermarkets, sporting stadia, zoological parts, etc.) as a means of providing recommendations and guidelines for new designs of the same or similar design-types (i.e. public and private buildings, kitchen equipment, urban designs, housing estates, computer desks, etc.), and revising existing built designs.