Title: Translating brand essence into product form: a case study in shape computation

Authors: Xiaojuan Chen, Alison McKay, Alan De Pennington, Hau Hing Chau

Addresses: School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. ' School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. ' School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. ' School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

Abstract: Differentiation between competing brands lies primarily in the eyes and minds of consumers. Three aspects of branding strategy are the maintenance of consistency across products within a brand, differentiation between products of different brands and the delivery of products that have the so-called |wow| factor. This paper reports experiments using shape grammars and affective design techniques in the generation of product shapes that both capture key characteristics of a brand|s identity and elicit pre-defined emotional responses.

Keywords: product design; perception; shape computation; brand essence; branding strategy; shape grammars; affective design; product shapes; brand identity; emotional responses.

DOI: 10.1504/JDR.2009.030999

Journal of Design Research, 2009 Vol.8 No.1, pp.42 - 65

Received: 28 Jul 2008
Accepted: 03 Mar 2009
Published online: 16 Jan 2010 *

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