Designing for People

Films about Designing for People

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This collection of movies provide an entertaining, and a potentially useful, complement to the textbook “Designing for People: An introduction to human factors engineering“. The films show examples of human factors design concepts in a way that is engaging in a way that the textbook is not.

Chapter 1 Introduction:
Cheaper by the Dozen (1950; 2003)

Account of the life of the Gilbreths, early pioneers of work measurement.
OMDb rating 7.1

Chapter 2 Design:
The Founder
Objectified

Building on the work of the Gilbreths to design produce consistent meals with minimal skill. Great example of “paper” prototyping the kitchen.
OMDb rating 7.2
Documentary describing design and designers.
OMDb rating 7.1

Chapter 3 Evaluation:
Experimenter: The Stanley Milgram story
The Stanford Prison Experiment

Describes the ethical challenges of experiments with human subjects.
OMDb rating 6.6
Describes the ethical challenges of experiments with human subjects.
OMDb rating 6.9

Chapter 4 Vision:
Fog of War
Helvetica

Describes perceptual errors that started the Vietnam war, as well as the ethical application of technology in the form of seat belts and bombing.
OMDb rating 8.2
Describes the design and role of typography in daily life.
OMDb rating 7.2

Chapter 5 Hearing:
Tenerife: Le crash du siecle

Documentary of one of the worst aircraft disasters, partially caused by miscommunication.
OMDb rating 7.4

Chapter 6 Cognition:
Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind
Memento

Highlights the malleable and impermanent nature of memory.
OMDb rating 8.3
Demonstrates the extreme of “memory in the world” rather than in the head.
OMDb rating 8.5

Chapter 7 Decision Making and Macro Cognition:
Thirteen Days
Apollo 13

Documents decision making under uncertainty and extreme stress.
OMDb rating 7.3
High stakes troubleshooting and recovery.
OMDb rating 7.6

Chapter 8 Displays

Chapter 9 Controls

Chapter 10 Human-computer interaction:
Her
Hidden Figures

Demonstrates the tendency of people to treat computers as if they were people with voice-based interaction.
OMDb rating 8.0
The original “computers” and their interactions with NASA that made the space program possible.
OMDb rating 7.8

Chapter 11 Automation:
2001: A space odyssey

Overtrusting (or maybe under trusting) AI in space exploration.
OMDb rating 8.3

Chapter 12 Engineering Anthropometry and Workspace Design

Chapter 13 Biomechanics of Work

Chapter 14 Work Physiology

Chapter 15 Stress and Workload:
Everest

Describes a climbing disaster on Mt. Everest and the various stresses that contributed to the mishap.
OMDb rating 7.1

Chapter 16 Safety and Accident Prevention:
Free Solo

Shows how a climber minimize risk in a high hazard environment.
OMDb rating 8.2

Chapter 17 Job Design, Selection, and Training:

Chapter 18 Organizational Design: Band of Brothers

Teamwork and leadership in extreme conditions.
IMDb rating 9.5


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