Put away the Neufert manual and pixelated Internet searches, because scaling people just got a whole lot easier. The Chicago-based design consultancy IA Collaborative has launched a Kickstarter campaign for the reissue of Humanscale – a set of ergonomic design templates that contain over 60,000 measurements adjusted to humans of all ages, sizes and, yes, even situations.
Originally produced by Henry Dreyfuss Associates in the 70s and 80s, the out-of-print templates are now rare vintage books and selectors, currently in the Smithsonian collection at the Cooper Hewitt (as both a historic design artifact and an extremely useful tool for designers). Now, the templates are getting a second lease on life with a revamp of 3 new booklets of 9 data sets.
Working in collaboration with Humanscale’s original creators and printers, IA’s goal is “to make this ultimate design artifact widely available once again for all to appreciate.” Said IA Collaborative on Kickstarter: “After finding so much value using Humanscale during the prototyping process in our own design work, we wanted to make them available at a reasonable cost to people everywhere.”
Design today has more influence than ever before, and it shapes our most important experiences. Humanscale has the power to ensure those experiences are human-centred. Every designer and architect should own a Humanscale manual, and I’m proud to be a part of making that possible – Dan Kraemer, Founder and Chief Design Officer at IA Collaborative.
Each booklet contains 3 templates geared to different facets of the human body in architecture, covering an array of topics including body dimensions, seating standards, and disabled access guidelines. Using the “data selector” that rotates around each template, users can gather the right data depending on age, size or mobility.
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It doesn’t stop there - Humanscale has organized its data to provide the most specific of design minutiae: from using hand and foot controls (5a), human strength (4a) and even the measurements you’d need to sit at work comfortably (7b). Booklets like the Public Space Selector also include references for corridors, doorways, lavatories, classrooms and outdoor walks—with measurements as detailed as affordances for people holding umbrellas. Units are in both inches and mm.
Within the 60,000 bits of data Humanscale offers, there are data points like measurements, square footage and traffic flow for home, office and public space design – and much more. Never before or since has there been such a complete and consolidated reference tool for anyone designing spaces and environments – Dan Kraemer, Founder and Chief Design Officer at IA Collaborative.
The Humanscale Kickstarter campaign is set to end on August 25 with a goal of $137,800. Each trio of booklets is sold at a price of $79, with all Earlybird discounts already sold out on the page. According to IA Collaborative, there are ambitions for a Humanscale 2.0 that includes plans to expand the data and create new guides for the future of digital experiences.
To find out more about Humanscale and IA Collaborative, check out their Kickstarter here.
News via: IA Collaborative.
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.jpg?1501186263 "Humanscale's Ergonomic Design Templates Are the Ultimate Architect's Tool")
