ALERT — ISSUE 7 — DESIGN AND USABILITY

   The issue no. 7 of the Human Element bulletin. In this release, as it is implied by its title, the authors have included the most important and relevant articles to address the usability principle as applied to the maritime industry, the role of the ISO, designing of the usable vessels, a human-centered design (i.e. HCD) approach to ship and design approach, definition and principles of the "good design" of ships and their systems, valuable feedbacks from the users modulating the designs etc.

   The booklet includes some information on the designing the world famous Queen Mary 2. Every vessel in the world consists of a number of systems and each of these systems has its own purpose; the systems can either form a component part of another (larger) system or operate alone. Since the reliance upon complex systems in merchant vessel operations is increasing, certain constraints and demands are placed on the human element, which is an extremely critical feature of all aspects of the design or operation of any ship or her systems. In addition to all stated above, as usual, there are some investigation reports and studies included in this release of the bulletin. Better if supplemented with this video file.