title: Using archetypes to create user panels for usability studies: Streamlining focus groups and user studies.
abstract: Designers at the conceptual phase of products such as headphones, stress the importance of comfort, e.g. executing comfort studies and the need for a reliable user panel. This paper proposes a methodology to issue a reliable user panel to represent large populations and validates the proposed framework to predict comfort factors, such as physical fit. Data of 200 heads was analyzed by forming clusters, 9 archetypal people were identified out of a 200 people's ear database. The archetypes were validated by comparing the archetypes' responses on physical fit against those of 20 participants interacting with 6 headsets. This paper suggests a new method of selecting representative user samples for prototype testing compared to costly and time consuming methods which relied on the analysis of human geometry of large populations.
authors.affiliation: Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, UK. Electronic address: s.stavrakos@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: S-K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Stavrakos
authors.affiliation: Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, UK. Electronic address: s.ahmed-kristensen@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed-Kristensen
authors.affiliation: GN Netcom A/S (Jabra(r)), Operations and R&D, Lautrupbjerg 7, DK-2750 Ballerup, Denmark. Electronic address: tgoldman@jabra.com.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goldman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry; D004423:Ear / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D004867:Equipment Design / Q000379:methods*; D006804:Ergonomics; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anthropometry; Archetypes; Comfort; Ergonomics