Method for evaluating vehicular design concepts transference

Abstract

Product design concepts are the heart and soul of product design. During the design process, designers often face the challenge of how to most effectively transfer their design concepts during product modelling. If users are unable to clearly perceive the meaning of a product's design, then the product is less desirable. Therefore, the 'resonance' between product design concepts and the product's user is an important indicator of the ultimate success (or lack thereof) of a product. That is, success relies on whether users can understand and accept the concept of the design. In this paper, we performed two experiments to explore whether the explicit and implicit attitudes of users towards vehicular design concepts were consistent. A case study was conducted to investigate this issue using a sports utility vehicle. We can conclude that a method utilising combined perception matching, eye tracking, and explicit/implicit attitude testing can help designers evaluate the effect of design concept transference.