Product Aesthetics

Research Theme: Design Practice

The visual appearance of products is a critical determinant of consumer response and product success. Judgements are often made on the elegance, functionality and social significance of products based largely on visual information. These judgements relate to the perceived attributes of products and frequently centre on the satisfaction of consumer wants and desires, rather than their needs.

Motivation

The current academic literature on product aesthetics is focused on consumer response and is largely unintegrated. In addition, the ways in which designers may consciously evoke specific responses is relatively unexplored. This project approaches the subject of product aesthetics by considering the context of current industrial design practice.

Objectives

  • Integrate existing literature related to product aesthetics.
  • Develop a coherent graphical representation for product aesthetics, incorporating the influence of the designer, the client and the consumer.

Method

A qualitative research approach has been adopted for the study with field interviews providing the majority of the data. The interviews employed a number of visual elicitation stimuli including products, sketches, photographs and diagrams. Qualitative data analysis software was employed for 'coding' the interview transcripts to reveal themes, connections and contrasts within the data.

Findings

An integrated framework for consumer response to products has been produced. Current data analysis activities are focused on producing a similar framework for representing the role of designer intent in determining product form. The novel interview elicitation techniques employed in the interviews has been presented to the wider qualitative research community.

Selected Publications

  • Crilly, N., Moultrie, J. and Clarkson, P.J. (2009) 'Shaping things: intended consumer response and the other determinants of product form' Design Studies, 30(3), 224-254.
  • Crilly, N., Blackwell, A.F. and Clarkson, P.J. (2006) 'Graphic elicitation: using research diagrams as interview stimuli' Qualitative Research, 6 (3), 341-366.
  • Crilly, N. (2005) 'Product aesthetics: representing designer intent and consumer response', PhD-thesis, Cambridge University Engineering Department
  • Crilly, N., Moultrie, J. and Clarkson, P. J. (2004), 'Seeing things: consumer response to the visual domain in product design', DesignStudies, 25 (6): 547-577.