Exploration of user perceptions of attractiveness and functionality

People think that more attractive objects are more usable, even when they do not work. This is worrisome to the field of engineering, usually devoted to creating the most functional solution. If indeed customers are more satisfied with more attractive objects, more emphasis should be placed on object beauty, not just object functionality. Eighty subjects were interviewed and rated the attractiveness, functionality, and an unrelated factor (weight) before and after using a salt shaker. Eight different salt shakers were used, that varied in attractiveness and functionality. It turns out that people were more satisfied with the functionality of attractive, nonfunctional objects and unattractive, functional objects. They also bonded more with nonfunctional objects and found them more attractive after using them. There is a complex relationship between a person's perceived functionality of a device and its attractiveness.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Schmit, Stephanie M

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Maria Yang.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/68857

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/68857