title: Tactile and kinaesthetic aspects of push-buttons.
abstract: Push-buttons are used widely as important controls on a large number of machines ranging from tiny electronic calculators to heavy industrial plant. Although there are some similar design problems for all sizes of button there are also very big differences. Considerable work has been done on keyboard button design but little has been written about the design and layout of control buttons for industrial equipment. This paper describes the tactile and kinaesthetic senses, explaining their importance for button design and layout, especially in situations where visual identification of buttons is not possible. An experiment is reported whereby push-button shapes were tested for tactile discriminability and allocated to given control functions.
authors.affiliation: Human Sciences and Advanced Technology (HUSAT) Research Group, Department of Ergonomics and Cybernetics, Loughborough University of Technology.
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Moore