An exploratory study on computer-aided affective product design based on crowdsourcing

This research investigates the possibility of incorporating affective factors in 3D model creation using handbags as an exemplary product. We demonstrate a crowd-based experimental approach that establishes the correlations between human emotional responses described by bi-polar adjectives and design factors of a bag. A factorial experiment is conducted to understand which design factors independently and/or interactively influence the responses by systematically varying 3D bag models. In-depth statistical analysis of the experimental results indicates that increasing the bag height makes it look more casual; a black bag tends to look luxurious and formal; a bag made of linen feels more classic and sophisticated. Those insights provide a basis for implementing a prototyping design tool that enables users to create 3D bag models with certain affective features using free-form deformation. The proposed approach demonstrates the preliminary feasibility of improving Kansei Engineering applications with big data obtained from crowdsourcing.