Quantifying Aesthetic Form Preference in a Utility Function

2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth Orsborn ◽  
Jonathan Cagan ◽  
Peter Boatwright
Keyword(s):  
Utility Function ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Product Form ◽  
Aesthetic Preference ◽  
Customer Preferences ◽  
Functional Product ◽  
Consumer Surveys ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Product Forms ◽  
Aesthetic Preferences

One of the greatest challenges in product development is creating a form that is aesthetically attractive to an intended market audience. Market research tools, such as consumer surveys, are well established for functional product features, but aesthetic preferences are as varied as the people that respond to them. Additionally, and possibly even more challenging, user feedback requires objective measurement and quantification of aesthetics and aesthetic preference. The common methods for quantifying aesthetics present respondents with metric scales over dimensions with abstract semantic labels like “strong” and “sexy.” Even if researchers choose the correct semantics to test, and even if respondents accurately record their responses on these semantic scales, the results on the semantic scales must be translated back into a product shape, where the designer must take the consumers’ numerical scores for a set of semantics and translate that into a form which consumers will find desirable. This translation presents a potential gap in understanding between the supply and demand sides of the marketplace. This gap between designer and user can be closed through objective methods to understand and quantify aesthetic preferences because the designer would have concrete directions to use as a foundation for development of the product form. Additionally, the quantification of aesthetic preference could be used by the designer as evidence to support certain product forms when engineering and manufacturing decisions are made that might adversely affect the aesthetics of the product form. This paper demonstrates how the qualitative attribute, form, cannot only be represented quantitatively, but also how customer preferences can be estimated as utility functions over the aesthetic space, so that new higher utility product forms can be proposed and explored. To do so, the form is summarized with underlying latent form characteristics, and these underlying characteristics are specified to be attributes in a utility function. Consumer surveys, created using design of experiments, are then used to capture an individual’s preference for the indicated attributes and thus the form. Once preference is summarized in the utility function, the utility function can be used as the basis for form generation and modification or design verification.

Quantifying Aesthetic Form Preference in a Utility Function

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth Orsborn ◽  
Jonathan Cagan ◽  
Peter Boatwright
Keyword(s):  
Utility Function ◽  
Product Form ◽  
Aesthetic Preference ◽  
Form Generation ◽  
Product Features ◽  
The People ◽  
Functional Product ◽  
Aesthetic Form ◽  
Qualitative Attribute ◽  
Consumer Interactions

One of the greatest challenges in product development is creating a form that is attractive to an intended market audience. Functional product features are easier to test and verify through user surveys and consumer interactions. But, aesthetic preferences are as varied as the people that respond to these products. Currently, there is no technique that clearly and concisely quantifies aesthetic preference. The common methods use semantics like “strong” and “sexy”. A designer then needs to take the consumer’s desire for a certain aesthetic and translate that into a form that the consumer will find desirable. This translation is a gap in understanding that often is not crossed successfully, such as in the creation of the Pontiac Aztek. By providing the designer with a method for understanding and quantifying a consumer’s aesthetic preference for a product’s form, this gap can be closed. The designer would have concrete directions to use as a foundation for development of the product form. Additionally, the quantification of the aesthetics could be used by the designer as leverage when engineering and manufacturing decisions are made that might adversely affect the product form. This paper demonstrates how a qualitative attribute, like form, can be represented quantitatively. This quantification can be molded into a utility function which through design of experiments can be used to capture an individual’s preference for the indicated attributes. Once preference is summarized in the utility function, the utility function can be used as the basis for form generation and modification or design verification.

scholarly journals Philtral Columns and Nostril Shapes in Nigerian Children: A Morphometric and Aesthetic Analysis

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Abdulrasheed ◽  
Asuku Malachy Eneye
Keyword(s):  
Age Differences ◽  
Reconstructive Surgery ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Upper Lip ◽  
Aesthetic Preference ◽  
Nigerian Children ◽  
Triangular Shape ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Aesthetic Preferences

Background. The upper lip-nose complex contributes significantly to the concept of symmetry and proportion of the face. A study of the morphology and aesthetic preferences of the lip-nose complex will provide a database that will serve as a guide for reconstruction. Subjects and Methods. Hundred Nigerian children participated in this study. Demographic data and standard photographs of the philtral column and nostrils were obtained. Sixty volunteers were recruited to evaluate the photographs. Each volunteer was asked to rank the photographs based on their aesthetic preference. Results. The morphology of the philtral columns was classified into four groups: (1) triangular, (2) concave, (3) flat, and (4) parallel. The nostril shape was also classified into four groups: (1) triangular, (2) round, (3) teardrop, and (4) rectangular. In both genders, the triangular shape of philtral column was the most common. There are significant age differences in the aesthetic rankings of philtral columns and nostril shapes. Conclusion. Our study establishes the basal values for the morphometric and aesthetic parameters of the lip-nose complex of 5- and 6-year-old children in Nigeria. We hope our results and reconstructive surgery will intersect at a point to treat disfigurements of the philtrum and nostrils successfully.

Zygmunt Krasiński wobec sztuk pięknych / Zygmunt Krasiński and the Fine Arts

2013 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Płaszczewska
Keyword(s):  
Fine Arts ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Individual Sensitivity ◽  
What Works ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
A Current ◽  
Aesthetic Preferences

Summary This is an attempt at examining Zygmunt Krasiński’s opinions and preferences with regard to the fine arts, a theme many critics believed to be missing from his writings. While putting things right, this article looks at the issues involved in his artistic choices, for example, what works or artists attracted his attention, in general, and to the point of him actually drawing on them in his own work or provoking him to some response (critical, approving, emotional, etc.). Furthermore, the article tries to explore the reasons and circumstances which may account for Krasiński’s interest in a given painting, print, or sculpture. It may have been the work’s theme as in the case of his ekphrasis of Ary Scheffer’s Dante and Virgil Encountering the Shades of Francesca and Paolo Di Rimini, where literary tradition provided the impulse, or the mode of its execution, or the personal ties with its author, or, finally, some other factors, like a current vogue or simply Krasiński’s individual sensitivity. The ultimate aim of all these inquiries is to outline Krasiński’s relationship with the arts (beaux arts) in the context of the aesthetic preferences of the epoch.

Product Form Evolution

2011 ◽  
pp. 499-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Muir Wood ◽  
James Moultrie ◽  
Claudia Eckert
Keyword(s):  
Product Design ◽  
Development Strategies ◽  
Consumer Perception ◽  
Product Form ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Product Forms ◽  
Over Time

Companies are coming round to the idea that function and form are complimentary factors in improving the user’s experience of a product and competing in today’s saturated consumer goods markets. However, consumer perception of form is constantly changing, and this manifests itself in the evolving forms of the products that they adopt. From clothes to cameras to cars, change in form is inevitable, and design teams must account for these trends in their product design and development strategies. Through literature, semi-structured interviews with design and trend practitioners, and an archival case study of mobile phone evolution, the authors have developed theories about the continuities that occur in product forms over time, and the forces that can disrupt this behaviour. They then go on to suggest how this view of form as evolving trajectories can benefit future product design strategies.

scholarly journals Aesthetic Preference and Time: Preferred Painting Dilates Time Perception

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402093990
Author(s):  
Lingjing Li ◽  
Yu Tian
Keyword(s):  
Time Perception ◽  
Reproduction Task ◽  
Aesthetic Preference ◽  
Temporal Reproduction ◽  
Time Perceptions ◽  
Aesthetic Preferences ◽  
Perceived Duration

In the domain of aesthetic preference, previous studies focused primarily on exploring the factors that influence aesthetic preference while neglecting to investigate whether aesthetic preference affects other psychological activities. This study sought to expand our understanding of time perception by examining whether aesthetic preference in viewing paintings influenced its perceived duration. Participants who preferred Chinese paintings ( n = 20) and participants who preferred western paintings ( n = 21) were recruited to complete a temporal reproduction task that measured their time perception of Chinese paintings and of western paintings. The results showed that participants who preferred Chinese paintings exhibited longer time perceptions for Chinese paintings than for western paintings, while the participants who preferred western paintings exhibited longer time perceptions for western paintings than for Chinese paintings. These results suggested that aesthetic preference could modulate our perceived duration of painting presentation. Specifically, individuals perceive longer painting presentation durations when exposed to the stimuli matching their aesthetic preferences.

scholarly journals Product forms based on backward traffic equations

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (02) ◽  
pp. 508-518
Author(s):  
Richard J. Boucherie
Keyword(s):  
Queueing Networks ◽  
Queueing Network ◽  
New Product ◽  
Capacity Constraints ◽  
Product Form ◽  
New Form ◽  
Product Forms ◽  
Exact Product

This paper introduces a new form of local balance and the corresponding product-form results. It is shown that these new product-form results allow capacity constraints at the stations of a queueing network without reversibility assumptions and without special blocking protocols. In particular, exact product-form results for heavily loaded queueing networks are obtained.

Designing Product Forms Using a Virtual Hand and Deformable Models

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng-Dar Shieh ◽  
Chih-Chieh Yang
Keyword(s):  
Product Design ◽  
Deformable Models ◽  
Product Form ◽  
Design System ◽  
Input Device ◽  
3D Cad ◽  
Virtual Hand ◽  
Product Form Design ◽  
Industrial Designers ◽  
Product Forms

This paper presents a computer-aided conceptual design system for developing product forms. The system integrates a virtual hand, which is manipulated by the designer, with deformable models representing the product forms. Designers can use gestural input and full hand pointing in the system to discover potential new ways for product form design. In the field of industrial design, styling and ergonomics are two important factors that determine a successful product design. Traditionally, designers explore possible concepts by sketching their ideas and then using clay or foam mock-ups to test them during the early phases of product design. With our deformable modeling simulation system, we provide a useful and efficient tool for industrial designers that enable to produce product form proposals efficiently without unnecessary trial and error. Designers can input pre-scanned 3D raw data or a 3D CAD model as an initial prototype. Then, the input model is given the material’s elastic property via the construction of a volume-like mass-spring-damping system. The virtual hand in the system constantly changes gestures as the designer manipulates it with a glove-based input device. The product form will be deformed or shaped according to the amount of force exerted by the virtual hand. A mesh smoothing feature called “PN-triangle” is also used to improve the appearance of the deformed model. Finally, a physical prototype with volume and weight is generated using a rapid prototyping machine. Designers can use these mock-ups to conduct further ergonomic evaluations.

The Applied Research on Improved Design of Product Forms Based on Reverse Engineering Technology

2013 ◽  
Vol 422 ◽  
pp. 89-93
Author(s):  
Xiao Ping Hu ◽  
Yun Feng Lin
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Shape Reconstruction ◽  
Product Form ◽  
Free Form ◽  
Point Cloud Data ◽  
Nurbs Surface ◽  
Engineering Technology ◽  
Cloud Data ◽  
Improved Design ◽  
Product Forms

The improved design of the form of product is related to the free-form surface treatment, but the use of the product which forms the point cloud data to obtain a satisfactory surface reconstruction is difficult. NURBS surface fitting technique, the appearance of the product first be classified according to form, and then accordingly the product shape reconstruction, it is much easier. Facts have proved that the conditions does not require high precision, the use of NURBS fitting to reconstruct the free surface able to obtain a satisfactory product form. This improved design of the product form is practical.

Antero-posterior and vertical facial type variations influence the aesthetic preference of the antero-posterior lip positions

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 414-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Murakami ◽  
Tomoki Kataoka ◽  
Junpei Tagawa ◽  
Takashi Yamashiro ◽  
Hiroshi Kamioka
Keyword(s):  
Aesthetic Preference ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Facial Type

Preference for Proportions as a Function of Context

1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Benjafield ◽  
Keith McFarlane
Keyword(s):  
Golden Section ◽  
Current Controversy ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Order Of Presentation ◽  
Aesthetic Preferences

The debate over the aesthetic pleasingness of the golden section is still ongoing, over 100 years after Fechner's pioneering investigations. The present study attempts to advance the debate by investigating the role of context in determining which rectangular proportions are preferred. Participants were shown three different ranges of proportions in three different orders. The order of presentation of ranges influenced aesthetic preferences most when the first range presented contained relatively “thin” rectangles. However, when the first range presented contained relatively “thick” rectangles, or had the golden section as its mid-point, then the most preferred proportion was in the vicinity of the golden section. These results are discussed in relation to the current controversy concerning the aesthetic significance of the golden section.

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