Title: Contribution of visual design elements to the perceived product family look

Authors: Arjun Ranawat; Sumit Tuteja; Katja Hölttä-Otto

Addresses: Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Rd, North Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA. ' Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Rd, North Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA. ' Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Rd, North Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA

Abstract: Companies work hard to differentiate from the competition and to build lasting customer loyalty through brands. We compare two existing methods for designing and analysing product family identity. As a result of the analysis, we merged the two methods and created a new method of four-dimensional design analysis. The method is used to analyse design elements used in existing product families. To investigate the actual effect that these design elements have on the perceived similarity of design, a two phase statistical analysis was performed. It was found that colour, shape, pattern, and texture all contribute significantly to the perceived similarity, but by different degree. Further, the perceived similarity can be enhanced by using more than one design element at a time.

Keywords: product design; brands; branding; design methods; design research; product families; shape; pattern; colour; texture; perceived similarity; design element; visual design elements; customer loyalty; product family identity.

DOI: 10.1504/JDR.2012.047923

Journal of Design Research, 2012 Vol.10 No.3, pp.189 - 205

Received: 27 Jan 2011
Accepted: 09 Nov 2011
Published online: 30 Aug 2014 *

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