Conference article

This paper presents a qualitative questionnaire study of brand-specific visual product design in the automotive sector. The purpose of the study was to explore the visual product experience of automobile design as perceived by the general public and to analyse those experiences using an emerging framework for visual product experience; VPE. In the study; respondents were asked to assess the design of two car models at an international car show in relation to brand perceptions and visually perceived attributes using; among other tools; visual analogue scales. Results from the study indicate that there is a correlation between experiential modes; in that respondents tended to rate attributes consistently high or low across modes. This implies that if the aesthetics are not perceived as favourable; neither is the expression of the car. Furthermore; respondents’ assessments of aesthetic appeal and expression are on an average strikingly similar; suggesting that the level of aesthetic appeal correlates with the level of semantic understanding of the design. The general rating of emotional response follows a similar consistent pattern for the two studied cars.

Product design; automobile design; visual experience; questionnaire; VPE