Kansei design with cross cultural perspectives

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the cross cultural perspectives (including that of Taiwan, China, Japan and Korea) toward Kansei design using mobile phone as an example. Formal features, Kansei adjectives and the relationships between them were investigated via Kansei engineering procedures: (1) collecting mobile phone samples and Kansei words; (2) selecting mobile phone samples and Kansei words using KJ method and Factor Analysis respectively; (3) designing four sets of bilingual questionnaires with 5-point Licker Scale; (4) conducting experiments on four sites with questionnaire; (5) analyzing results using Quantification Type I. The achieved tasks include: (1) The Kansei needs of consumers from different culture background; (2) The preferred formal features of a mobile phone among different cultural background; and (3) The relationships between Kansei words and formal features for different cultural background. The results can be used as reference for designing cross-culture mobile phones as well as other closely related products. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.