Sensory Dominance in Product Design
People perceive products through all their senses. However some sensory information can have a larger effect on the product experience than other. Traditionally, product design focuses mainly on visual aspects, neglecting other sensory modalities as information source. To create a more interesting product interaction we focus on the ensemble of human senses. We investigate what affects the relative importance of the modalities, so that designers can focus on the major determinants of product experience.
Although some sensory information may be picked up unconsciously, it can play an important role in the product experience. Therefore, we use an experimental approach in our studies. This approach enables us to determine the impact of each modality on the overall product experience, even when the subjects are not aware of it. We compare the relative impact of four modalities; seeing, hearing, touching and smelling. Taste will not be investigated since this modality is less relevant to Industrial Design Engineering.
For the experiment, a product has been designed that stimulates all four modalities. Stimuli have been designed to address a single modality, so that each type of sensory input can be varied separately. We assess the impact of stimulus variation on responses on the experience dimension. By modifying the stimuli on this experience dimension, so that the information provided to the modalities is not equivalent, we can determine the impact of the various modalities on the way the user experiences the product.
Using an experimental approach implies the need for a measure that can be used across the modalities. Such a measure can be obtained from the affective meaning a certain product elicits, as operationalized by the Semantic Differential Method developed by Osgood et al (1957). In this method the affective meaning is measured by means of a set of (bipolar) semantic scales on which the user evaluates the product. However, the scale used to determine the relative importance of the various modalities should not have bias towards one or more modalities. Therefore, two pretests have been conducted to select the semantic scales for our study: Based on the Sensory Relevance Coefficient (Suzuki et al 2001), a number of potential semantic scales, selected from an extensive list, were evaluated on their sensory neutrality. From this research we can conclude that both 'aangenaam - onaangenaam' and 'prettig - onprettig', (both 'pleasant - unpleasant' in English) were the most neutral scales. Therefore this scale will be used as experience dimension. A second pre-study has been conducted to develop a set of items that give a good overview of the aspects of product experience. With these items, we determined whether the semantic scales were properly distributed across the three dimensions typical for the Semantic Differential Method (Evaluative, Arousal and Potency).
Multiple stimuli that vary on the experience dimension have been designed for each modality. These stimuli have been evaluated in a pre-test. The strongest positive and negative stimulus for each modality have been integrated in a product, a portable air filter, that will be used in the main experiment, so that we can asses the degree of sensory dominance.
contact
Jacco OttenKarpaten 45
2264 ME Leidschendam
06-24758172
jacco.otten@wanadoo.nl
Links to related projects:
designID-Studiolab
our research
Links to related topics:
designID-Studiolab
our research
People who inspired me
HoudiniCharles Darwin
Liberace
Albert Einstein