Human factors research in handwriting and pen design has received attention only recently. This paper reports a study on the effects of pen size variations on the writing performance of boys and girls at age 10. Three pen sizes with shank diameters of 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch were compared. Results indicate a performance superiority of boys over girls using these pens. The thick pen was found to be most effective for the boys in the study. No difference was found between the three pens for girls. The need for human factors research in writing instrument design for school age children of both sexes and other population groups is discussed.
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References
1.
KaoH. S. R.1973. Human factors in penpoint design. Proceedings of the 17th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors Society, October 16–18, 1973, Washington, D.C.
2.
KaoH. S. R.SmithK. E.KnutsonR.1969. An experimental cybernetic analysis of hand-writing and penpoint design. Ergonomics, 12(3), 453–458.
