Simulation in Human-Centered Design – Past, Present and Tomorrow

Abstract

Due to the ever rising significance of the products’ usability the consideration of the user in the product development process becomes more and more important to stay competitive. This paper firstly outlines the historical evolution of how user-product relationships have been investigated and considered in product design in the past. A literature research has been conducted to acquire information about the state of the art in the multidisciplinary field of human-centered design as well as to derive which challenges towards a virtual assessment of human-related product properties exist. Finally the most recent research activities aiming to solve the identified issues as well as future prospects in simulating human-product interactions are presented.