Searching for the 'sweet-spot': Demonstrating the contribution of shape analysis tools in stimuli creation

Within design research several well-known principles have been identified that influence aesthetic pleasure for product designs. More specifically, these design principles indicate an optimal balance on a certain design attribute that receives the highest aesthetic pleasure (e.g., Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable). While these go far in explaining the effects of design on appraisal, the nature of the stimuli used in these studies makes it difficult to identify exactly where this optimal balance lies and thus does not inform a designer on how to adjust a given attribute to create an aesthetically pleasing product design. In this study, we conduct a meta analysis on one such study exploring the design principle Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable and demonstrate the application of shape comparison tools in relating the sweet-spot in terms of changes in product shape. Results from the application show the way in which quantifying difference in shape can help to identify aspects of shape where minor changes result in substantial increases/decreases in aesthetic pleasure, as well as its use in relating a value of difference to optimum values of aesthetic pleasure.