Perception of Aesthetics in Consumer Products

In today´s highly saturated consumer markets, competition among products is high. Emotional design, kansei engineering and aesthetics are tools increasingly used to make products stand out from their competitors. This study investigates how the desire to own a product is related to the perceptions and aesthetics of the product. Surveys were conducted with 97 participants to gather their perceptions of 11 vases. Findings from the case study indicate that there exist significant relations between the desire to own a product and how the product is perceived; and also between the perceptions and the parameters of the vases. The results from this study are a set of design guidelines for creating products, in this case vases, targeting desire for ownership and evoking specific perceptions. The results are specific to vases or similar product categories although the method can be applied to other product categories.