This book explains how social psychology, sociology and anthropology can provide valuable techniques for investigating the relationship between people and design. Designers can use these techniques to assess the role that products and the built environment play in peoples' lives and apply this knowledge in the setting of product requirements, for example ergonomic user requirements, such as usability and accessibility and functional and aesthetic issues. The resulting products will not only be functional and ergonomically sound, they will also accord much better with the lifestyle and aspirations of those who experience them.
Design and the Social Sciences is written not only by designers and applied theorists, but also by specialists working at the front line in the consumer product industries. The contributors critically discuss the existing realities and the benefits that an interdisciplinary approach could bring to research, practice and education. They also identify and define possible directions for interdisciplinary work connecting design and the social sciences.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203301307