John Christopher Jones

John Christopher Jones (7 October 1927 - 13 August 2022), known professionally as John Chris Jones, was a Welsh design researcher and theorist. He was born in Aberystwyth, Wales, studied engineering at the University of Cambridge, went on to work for AEI in Manchester, England. He became the first Professor of Design at the Open University in 1970. His book Design Methods: Seeds of Human Futures is considered a major text in design methods.
From his early collaboration with engineers, Jones advocated ergonomics and the consideration of user centred issues that were not part of engineering skills and attitudes at the time. When the results of his ergonomic studies of user behaviour were not utilized by the firm's designers, Jones set about studying and improving the design process so as to incorporate these aspects. He was also frustrated with the superficiality of industrial design at th…