→ operator
UX/UI / Design Research / Product Design
/ Visual Design / Visual Identity
YEAR: 2023
✕ 📰 Winner ● DNA Paris Design Awards 2024
✕ 📰 Winner ● European Product Design Award 2024
✕ 📰 Bronze ● IDA Design Awards 2024
An inclusive toolkit that captures and visualizes workplace wellbeing data, empowering shopfloor workers
Operator is a comprehensive solution designed to address the challenge of assessing and improving wellbeing at work in demanding environments like industrial shopfloors. By focusing on the interplay between ergonomics, workplace conditions, and self-perception, the project aims to empower workers and decision-makers with actionable insights to foster physical and mental health.
Challenge
On industrial shopfloors, workers face hidden risks daily: subtle ergonomic strains, unseen environmental hazards, and the personal pressures of mental and emotional health. But traditional methods of data collection often fall short, either by being too intrusive or too complex to interpret.
How could we collect reliable data about wellbeing at work and make it understandable for a wide variety of audiences?
Solution
A personal kit for the assessment of wellbeing at work comprising four components:
1. Inertial Sensor: Measures ergonomic risk.
2. Environmental Sensor: Evaluates exposure to environmental risks.
3. Self-Report Device: Allows workers to report physical and mental states, such as pain, pressure, and social support.
4. Mobile Application: Provides private access to personal data, visualised in an easy-to-understand format.
A dashboard complements these tools, enabling workers to explore personal data while offering aggregated insights for decision-makers. The dashboard facilitates understanding of correlations, such as the link between productivity peaks and ergonomic risks.
OPERATOR – Digital Transformation in Industry with a focus on the Operator 4.0
→ Company: Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS
→ Lead Designers: Ana C. Barros, Ruben Moutinho, Catarina Dantas
→ Design Team: Human-Centred Design Team
→ Animation by Juarez Braga
Design
◦ Ethnographic Research: In-depth fieldwork helped identify key wellbeing dimensions for self-reports, ensuring relevance to workers' experiences.
◦ Inclusive Design:
◦◦ The self-report device supports discreet use with features like textured buttons and multiple positioning options.
◦◦ Data visualisation employs a scaffolding approach, revealing increasing levels of detail with user interaction.
◦ Usability Testing: Iterative testing with garment factory operators ensured the design’s effectiveness and usability during work hours.
Results
Field tests revealed that:
◦ The kit was non-intrusive, reliable, and meaningful.
◦ Operators valued the tools, finding them useful for assessing and understanding their wellbeing.
◦ Data visualisation effectively communicated insights to diverse audiences.
