tailieunhanh - Quantifying Aesthetic Form Preference in a Utility Function

What is the impact of damage on classic works of art from the past? It is true that we strive to preserve and repair them, but perhaps the accidents of history have the effect of renewing rather than destroying art works. Vandalized works seem strangely modern. In 1977 a vandal attacked a Rembrandt self-portrait with sulfuric acid, transforming the masterpiece forever and regrettably. 8 Nevertheless, the problem is not that the resulting image no longer belongs in the history of art. . | Seth Orsborn Department of Interdisciplinary Engineering Missouri University of Science and Technology Rolla MO 65409 e-mail orsborns@ Jonathan Cagan Department of Mechanical Engineering Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213 e-mail cagan@ Peter Boatwright Tepper School of Business Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213 e-mail boatwright@ Quantifying Aesthetic Form Preference in a Utility Function One of the greatest challenges in product development is creating a form that is aesthetically attractive to an intended market audience. Market research tools such as consumer surveys are well established for functional product features but aesthetic preferences are as varied as the people that respond to them. Additionally and possibly even more challenging user feedback requires objective measurement and quantification of aesthetics and aesthetic preference. The common methods for quantifying aesthetics present respondents with metric scales over dimensions with abstract semantic labels like strong and sexy. Even if researchers choose the correct semantics to test and even if respondents accurately record their responses on these semantic scales the results on the semantic scales must be translated back into a product shape where the designer must take the consumers numerical scores for a set of semantics and translate that into a form which consumers will find desirable. This translation presents a potential gap in understanding between the supply and demand sides of the marketplace. This gap between designer and user can be closed through objective methods to understand and quantify aesthetic preferences because the designer would have concrete directions to use as a foundation for development of the product form. Additionally the quantification of aesthetic preference could be used by the designer as evidence to support certain product forms when engineering and manufacturing decisions are made that might adversely affect the .