Kansei as a Function of Aesthetic Experience in Product Design

Abstract

Following the current trend of modern product designs and developments, kansei and aesthetics are becoming inescapable concepts that must be considered in a user-centred design process. In this chapter, we make the assumption that aesthetic emotion is part of kansei feeling based on the cognition of sensori-emotional values evoked in interactions between humans and artefacts within situated contexts, either through immediate sensory perception or bodily interaction. Therefore, we construe aesthetic experience as a kansei element and an emotive cognition process in the construction of product values, and then propose that this phenomenon transverse all layers of product experience in both intrinsic and extrinsic ways, depending on the context, culture and environment. We project that the understanding of kansei as a denominator for aesthetic experience in design will foster value-based approach to the development of products that truly resonate and satisfy the users’ cognitive and emotional sensibilities