Presentation
Beyond Gestalt: A Memory-Based Approach to Affective Design in Human Factors Engineering
DescriptionIn affective design, product designers imbue products with visual aesthetic elements to elicit emotional responses from consumers. However, visual features that improve the emotional response of a product often adversely affects its perceived functionality. To address this phenomenon and enable effective visual element selection by designers, we propose a memory-based approach for visual feature selection in affective design based on the valence of previous memories. In an empirical test of this approach, 120 older adults rated two product concepts designed with visual elements resembling previously used elements with different valences (one positive and the other neutral) in a between-subjects study design. Participants rated the aesthetics, functionality, and symbolism of the products using the Product Design Scale and the data was analyzed using a MANOVA and applying Holm’s correction. Our findings show that while participants rated the product concept with the positive memory significantly higher in aesthetics, there was no significant difference between the two product concepts in the functionality and symbolism ratings. These findings suggest that designing products with visual elements from positive memories does not diminish their perceived functionality among older adults and could be useful in the design of products for healthcare settings.
Event Type
Lecture
TimeTuesday, October 20th4:50pm - 5:10pm PDT
Location
Similar Presentations