Affective product shapes through image morphing

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a framework for understanding how product shapes evoke affective responses. For a set of representative product shapes, we first conduct a survey to evaluate the affective characteristics of each product shape. We then compute a spatial configuration that summarizes the affective responses toward the set of shapes, by applying perceptual mapping techniques to the survey data. A series of new product shapes that smoothly interpolate among product shapes are then generated by using image morphing techniques. With data from a followup survey, we inserted the new shapes into the spatial configuration. The trajectory or distribution of the interpolated shapes provides visualization of how affective characteristics change in response to varying shapes. We found the relationship between the shapes and the affective characteristic to be nonlinear and non-uniform.