User centered design characteristics of offshore racing yacht design

Abstract

Yelken aktivitesi; degisken cevre kosullari ve hreketli pozisyonda, asıl eleman olan yelkeni etkin bir sekilde kullanma amaci ile gerceklesen, bir grup organize aktivite, arac ve kullanicidan olusan, organize bir calisma sistemi olarak tanimlanabilir. Yelkenli yatlar bu sistemin mekanlaridir. Performans ve etkin kullanim, ayni zamanda kullanicilarin yatlarindan kullanim acisindan memnun olmalari, tasarim kriterleri arasindaki en onemli unsurdur. Yatin ozellikle yarislarda basarili olmasi, onun teknik anlamda iyi tasarlanmis bir govde ve yelkene sahip olmasinin yani sira, kullanicilari tarafindanda etkin bir sekilde kullanilabilmesi, kullanici dostu bir guverteye sahip olabilmesi, teknenin basarisi ile dogrudan ilgilidir.Guverte uzerinde her kullanicinin farkli gorevleri vardir ve farkli araclari , guvertenin farkli belirli noktalarinda kullanirlar. Ancak bu arac ve calisma alanlari her zaman kullanicinin kullanim kolayligi dusunulerek tasarlanmaz. Genellikle guverte yerlesimi, alanin kucuk olmasi sebebi ile imkanlar ve yer musait oldugu kadari ile gerceklesir. En etkin tasarim, tum kosullara en iyi sekilde hizmet veren tasarimdir ve bu sisteme ait tum tasarim elemanlari kullanici odakli tasarim kriterleri kullanilarak tasarlanmalidir.Bu tez,yelkenli yaris teknelerinde `kullanici gorevleri`, `kullanicilara ait mekansal dagilim` ve `araclarin tasarimi` iliskilerini iceren arastirmanin sonuclarini, kullanici odakli tasarim methodlarini kullanarak degerlendirmektedir. Arastirmanin hedefi, acikdeniz yelkenli yarislarinda, farkli kosullar icin, performansi etkileyen kullanici problemlerinin cozumune yonelik olarak araclara ve calisma alanlarina dair bir tasarim kilavuzu olusturmaktir.Bu calisma, yelkenli yaris teknesi uzerindeki farkli kullanici performanslarini ayri ayri analiz etmek, her gorevin birebir iliskili oldugu araclari ve kullanicilarinin calisma alanlarini karsilastirmak ve birbirleri ile olan iliskilerini analiz etmek gibi kullanici odakli tasarima referans veren bazi methodlar kullanilarak baslamaktadir. Bu analiz farkli tiplerdeki kokpit ve kokpit ici araclarin kullanimini icermektedir.Oncelikle Kullanici odakli tasarima ait literaturden elde edilen bilgi ve oneriler dogrultusunda teorik analiz uygulandi. Daha sonra yatlarin yaris icinde yaptiklari farkli manevralar, bu manevralar sirasinda kullanicilarin kokpit icerisindeki hareketleri ve arac kullanimlari farkli degerlendirme methodlari kullanilarak bir araya getirildi ve degerlendirmeye katildi.Tum bu analizler sonucunda ortaya cikan deneysel sonuclar, kullanicilarin rolleri goz onunde bulundurularak bir tasarim kilavuzu onerilmesine olanak sagladi. Arastirmalar sirasinda tespit edilen sorunlardan yola cikilarak hazirlanan ve yelkenli yaris teknelerinin tasarimi sirasinda dikkate alinmasi onerilen bu bilgiler, kullanicilarin calisma alanlari, kullandiklari araclarin calisma alanlari icerisindeki konumlari ve bu araclarin tasarimlarini kapsamaktadir.

The sailing activity can be thought as an organized work system defined by a related group of elements which are organized activities, riggings and people, working in unstable environmental conditions and positions for sustaining the main object of ?sail with efficiency. A sailing yacht is a medium of this system. Performance, effectiveness and efficiency of sailing yacht and pleasure of users are most important things for design, because success is directly related to them.On board, each user has different defined roles and tasks. These tasks are performed by interacting with specific riggings in specific ?spaces? of the sailing yacht. However, these sailing elements do not always derive from user-centered design criteria. They often develop from arrangements, which usually are aesthetical, technical or organizational installations on board. Actually, the most efficient design that can serve the whole system contains each of them. And these elements should be designed considering the user-centered design criteria.This thesis outlines the results of an evaluation referred to the analysis, contains interrelation of ?tasks of users??, ?distribution of space? and ?designs of tools? in regarding with user-centered design methods. The target of the evaluation is to indicate the most important aspects of users? displeasure and problems that are affecting their performance in races and in order to define a guideline referring to different operative situations (organizational, positional and effective usability) as well as to different sets of rigging.The study started from some methods referred to user-centered design: in order to analyze the different user?s performance taken up in rapid succession, in comparison with each tasks connected to the most important riggings and work area of a sailing yacht. This analyze has been done in considers to different kinds of cockpits and uses of riggings.Primarily a theoretical analysis has been applied, referring to some suggestions got from the literature on user-centered design (UCD). Afterward an evaluation with different methods has been applied by registering the types of maneuvers and the different taken up movement of users? on board.The experimental results allowed providing some guidelines to favor and to guide design choices for users, work areas and riggings referred to the users? roles. At the end, guidelines will be forced in a solution of usable and functional user-friendly racing yachts.