By Nur Haninah Iwan
GOMBAK, 13 April 2017: In conjunction with Psychology Week, the Secretariat of Psychology (PSYSCTA) has recently conducted a talk on “Ergonomics of Mobile Devices: Thinking About the Users”.
The talk was held with an objective to expose the close relationship between engineering and psychology in designing, and was attended by students from University of Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and IIUM students.
Dr. Harris Shah Abd Hamid, one of the speakers, highlighted an important point that users are not clone of each other. They are different in many ways including their psychological profile and preference.
œThis is where psychologists can help and inform engineers about the psychologies of potential users, so that engineers can design the device to fit their psychology, he added.
Some of the main points were shared during the talk. They were users ability, cognitive, and culture which can influence users’ preference.
Dr. Harris Shah said that some designers are egocentric. They do not put users as their top priority, rather their design is more to self-centred. They assumed that when a design is acceptable, it will be suitable for the users.
œA design focusing on average users may not be suitable for non-average users, he added.
PSYCTA upcoming talk programme is regarding “Forensic Psychology: Relations of Psychology and Legal System” which will be held on 13 April (Thursday) beginning at 8p.m, at Auditorium B, Kulliyyah of Engineering.***