Anthropometrics is the study of human body measurements and proportions. It provides data on dimensions like height, arm length, and hand size that are important for design. When designing for human use, a designer must select data that is appropriate for the situation, such as considering average height when determining doorway height. Rather than using data from the tallest or shortest people, designers typically ignore the upper and lower 5% and design for the majority in between to ensure usability.

1. S3 Craft & Design
Anthropometrics

2. What Is ANTHROPOMETRICS?
Anthropometric data is available on all aspects of human
dimensions e.g. height, arm length, hand grip etc.
As people are all different sizes it is necessary to select data
which is appropriate to the design situation e.g. Height of a
doorway (must consider the height of people).
S.Watson

3. Anthropometrics
This graph shows the range
of heights for men also the
number of men at each of
the heights.
Notice few men are
very small and also few men
are very tall.
There are a large number who
are around the average height.
S.Watson

4. Anthropometrics
You may think when
choosing the height of a
doorway that you would
simply choose the size of
the tallest man.
This is not the case.
The chances of the tallest
person using the doorway are
so slim that it is not practical to
use this size for the door.
S.Watson

5. Anthropometrics
In fact when designing the
doorway designers ignore
the upper 5% and consider
the dimensions of the
95th %le
If the design was for small
individuals the designer
would ignore the smallest
5% and design for the
5th %le
S.Watson

6. Anthropometrics
Lets look at another example.
Imagine we were trying to find the maximum height that a shelf
should be in a supermarket.
We are looking at an individuals reach here.
The smallest individual we should consider is the
5th %le women (women because it will be smaller than men)
if we set the shelf height suitable for the 5th%le women this means
that the shelf will be within reach of all individuals.
S.Watson

7. Examples of Anthropometrics data
S.Watson

8. Examples of Anthropometrics data
S.Watson