Ergonomics in Interaction Design

Code:

DIPEDI

Acronym:

EDI

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Engineering

Instance: 2025/2026 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Design
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Product and Industrial Design

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MDIP	21	Official Plan 2013	1	-	3	21	81

Teaching language

Portuguese and english

Objectives

Understand and promote critical thinking with tangibility in the semester development project, issues related to:

 

• The role of emotions and feelings in People's needs and expectations, with an impact on the design of the artefact;
  
  
• Somaesthetics promote greater “Awareness of Lived Experience” and “Extraction of Aesthetically Evocative Qualities”;
  
  
• Methods, approaches and tools for carrying out ‘User Research’ well-founded in a Participatory Design approach;
  
  
• Gamified activities and their potential for applicability in Co-Design sessions;
  
  
• Inclusion and Accessibility;
  
  
• Standards (ISO) and Interaction Principles;
  
  
• Assessment of the functional, emotional and aesthetic/sensory experience of the interaction between people and an artefact.

Each of these subjects worked on in class, theoretically and practically, with the participation of guests to share projects or practices related more specifically to them, will be deepened by each student through an essay (up to 500 words) potentially related to their course project.

Learning outcomes and competences

• Theme #1
  Ergonomics and Human-Computer Interaction
  
  


• Methodology and Assessment
  Subject exposition complemented with a guest (~half of the class) to share case studies (R&D) and/or in-class practices with students on the specific subject. Completion of an essay (up to 500 words) with delivery by the next class capable of explaining the subject critically, with possible intersection with your course project.
  
  


• Skills
  Understand the historical, socio-political and technological context of Ergonomics as a technical-scientific discipline and Human-Computer Interaction as an arm and its respective autonomy. 
  
  
  *****
  
  

• Theme #2
  Emotional Design and Somaesthetics
  
  


• Methodology and Assessment
  Subject exposition complemented with a guest (~half of the class) to share case studies (R&D) and/or in-class practices with students on the specific subject. Completion of an essay (up to 500 words) with delivery by the next class capable of explaining the subject critically, with possible intersection with your course project.
  
  


• Skills
  Understand the role and difference between emotions and feelings and their visceral relationship with the body.
  Relationship of body, movement and space/artifact in interaction design and sensory dimensions (SomaAesthetics). 
  
  
  *****
  
  
  


• Theme #3
  Person-Centered Design and Co-Design
  
  


• Methodology and Assessment
  Subject exposition complemented with a guest (~half of the class) to share case studies (R&D) and/or in-class practices with students on the specific subject. Completion of an essay (up to 500 words) with delivery by the next class capable of explaining the subject critically, with possible intersection with your course project.
  
  


• Skills
  Understand the relevance and understand how to identify the Person's needs and expectations (functional; emotional and aesthetic/sensory).
  
  
  *****
  
  
  


• Theme #4
  Gamification. Support methods and tools for ‘User Research’
  
  


• Methodology and Assessment
  Subject exposition complemented with a guest (~half of the class) to share case studies (R&D) and/or in-class practices with students on the specific subject. Completion of an essay (up to 500 words) with delivery by the next class capable of explaining the subject critically, with possible intersection with your course project.
  
  


• Skills
  Understand gamification and understand how to apply gamified methods and tools to support Participatory Design and Co-Design activities in different phases of the project. 
  
  
  *****
  
  
  


• Theme #5
  Inclusion and Accessibility
  
  


• Methodology and Assessment
  Subject exposition complemented with a guest (~half of the class) to share case studies (R&D) and/or in-class practices with students on the specific subject. Completion of an essay (up to 500 words) with delivery by the next class capable of explaining the subject critically, with possible intersection with your course project.
  
  


• Skills
  Technically understand the concepts of inclusion and accessibility, getting in touch with assistive technologies and the Inclusion Support Center of the University of Porto. 
  
  
  *****
  
  
  


• Theme #6
  Patterns, Interaction and Usability Principles
  
  


• Methodology and Assessment
  Subject exposition complemented with a guest (~half of the class) to share case studies (R&D) and/or in-class practices with students on the specific subject. Completion of an essay (up to 500 words) with delivery by the next class capable of explaining the subject critically, with possible intersection with your course project.
  
  


• Skills
  Recognize the main industry standards associated with the interaction of artifacts with screen and understand which and how interaction design and usability principles can be considered.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  


• Theme #7
  User Experience Assessment
  
  


• Methodology and Assessment
  Subject exposition complemented with a guest (~half of the class) to share case studies (R&D) and/or in-class practices with students on the specific subject. Completion of an essay (up to 500 words) with delivery by the next class capable of explaining the subject critically, with possible intersection with your course project.
  
  


• Skills
  Know different methods for evaluating user experience, with potential applicability in the course project.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Themes:

• Ergonomics and Human-Computer Interaction
  
  


• Person-Centred Design
  
  


• Emotional Design and Somaesthetics
  
  


• Ludification. Methods and tools to support ‘User Research’
  
  


• Inclusion and Accessibility
  
  


• Standards and Usability
  
  


• User Experience Assessment

Mandatory literature

Alan Cooper; About Face. ISBN: 978-1-118-76657-6
Bruno Giesteira, Gerd Berg, Viviane Peçaibes; Positive Play: Designing Ludic Tools for Health, Septentrio Publishing, 2024. ISBN: 2387-4597 (DOI: 10.7557/7.7582)
Bruno Giesteira, Viviane Peçaibes, Pedro Cardoso, Guilherme Vila Maior, Isabel Quaresma; Inclusivity Play: Web Platform and Games for Inclusion and Diversity in the University - The Skills for a Next-Generation Project, José Sánchez-Santamaría and Brenda Boroel Cervantes, IGI Global, 2024. ISBN: 9798369316146 (DOI: 10.4018/979-8-3693-1614-6.ch007)
Kristina Höök; Designing with the Body: Somaesthetic Interaction Design, The MIT Press

Complementary Bibliography

Jeffrey Rubin; Handbook of usability testing. ISBN: 978-0-470-18548-3
Richard Shusterman; Body Consciousness: A Philosophy Of Mindfulness And Somaesthetics, Cambridge University Press

Teaching methods and learning activities

Content will be made available on the topics covered in classes for prior reading and support for the expository component of the subsequent class who will delve deeper into the subjects using the state of the art based on seminal authors, their own research projects and other case studies considered timely.

After the expository component, a broad discussion will be held with the class in conjunction with the semester projects under development.

In addition, the broad discussion will consider, whenever possible, the participation of guests to share projects or practices related specifically to the topics covered.

The technical-scientific resources previously made available per class are systematized into six thematic areas listed in the previous field (Program). Especially:

• Ergonomics and Human-Computer Interaction
  
  


• Emotional Design and Somaesthetics
  
  


• Person-Centred Design and Ludicity

• User-Research
  
  


• ISOs, Interaction Principles, Usability, and Accessibility
  
  


• Interaction Design Experience Assessment

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	10,00
Trabalho escrito	45,00
Trabalho laboratorial	45,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Frequência das aulas	27,00
Trabalho escrito	27,00
Trabalho laboratorial	27,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

Classes in this class will be theoretical-practical, articulating:

• Expository classes
  
  


• Mentoring classes between the Professor, Industry/R&D representatives and students
  
  


• Autonomous investigation
  
  


• Technical documentation

 

Attendance Conditions:

Do not exceed the limit number of absences and actively participate in the preparation of projects. Student and equivalent workers are exempt from classes but must, at intervals to be agreed with the teachers, present the progress of their work, just as they must present these, simultaneously with ordinary students.

Calculation formula of final grade

CF = E1 * 15% + E2 * 15% + E3 * 15% + E4 * 15% + E5 * 15% + E6 * 15% + AC * 10%

CF = Final Classification

E1, E2, E3, E4, E5 = Thematic essays on topics shared in class, combined into a final presentation.

AC = Continuous Assessment

FP = 0.9 / 1.0 / 1.1 considering the Project UC grade

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Student and equivalent workers are exempt from classes but must, at intervals to be agreed with the teachers, present the progress of their work, just as they must present these, simultaneously with ordinary students.

Classification improvement

As this is a Distributed Assessment UC, with three thematic essays on the semester project and respective monitoring in classes, assessment at a single moment is not possible.


The improvement of the classification is exclusively carried out by attendance at the UC in the subsequent academic year.