No average person

A young 1950’s U.S. Air Force Lieutenant discovered a fatal flaw in cockpit designs. Pilots couldn’t fit in WWII jets because the average pilot had grown. The averages of 10 body part measurements were taken from thousands of pilots to create new cockpits. Once complete, not one pilot fit all 10 dimensions because there is no such thing as a perfectly average, proportional body. The U.S. Air Force centered on fitting individual body sizes instead of standardizing around the average. This lead to the invention of adjustable seats, adjustable foot pedals, adjustable helmet straps, and adjustable flight suits with ranges that fit the most extreme percentiles of pilots.

Someone with an average length torso will not be average for all other anthropometric dimensions. Human’s are not proportional, so we must design for the individual in order to design for the masses.