Interpretation of Fabric Tactile Perceptions through Visual Features for Textile Products

Effect of material properties on emotion: a virtual reality study

Introduction

Designers know that part of the appreciation of a product comes from the properties of its materials. These materials define the object's appearance and produce emotional reactions that can influence the act of purchase. Although known and observed as important, the affective level of a material remains difficult to assess. While many studies have been conducted regarding material colors, here we focus on two material properties that drive how light is reflected by the object: its metalness and smoothness. In this context, this work aims to study the influence of these properties on the induced emotional response.

Method

We conducted a perceptual user study in virtual reality, allowing participants to visualize and manipulate a neutral object - a mug. We generated 16 material effects by varying it metalness and smoothness characteristics. The emotional reactions produced by the 16 mugs were evaluated on a panel of 29 people using James Russel's circumplex model, for an emotional measurement through two dimensions: arousal (from low to high) and valence (from negative to positive). This scale, used here through VR users' declarative statements allowed us to order their emotional preferences between all the virtual mugs.

Result

Statistical results show significant positive effects of both metalness and smoothness on arousal and valence. Using image processing features, we show that this positive effect is linked to the increasing strength (i.e., sharpness and contrast) of the specular reflections induced by these material properties.

Discussion

The present work is the first to establish this strong relationship between specular reflections induced by material properties and aroused emotions.

Multisensory Analysis of Consumer-Product Interaction During Ceramic Tile Shopping Experiences

The need to design products that engage several senses has being increasingly recognised by design and marketing professionals. Many works analyse the impact of sensory stimuli on the hedonic, cognitive, and emotional responses of consumers, as well as on their satisfaction and intention to purchase. However, there is much less information about the utilitarian dimension related to a sensory non-reflective analysis of the tangible elements of the experience, the sequential role played by different senses, and their relative importance. This work analyses the sensorial dimension of consumer interactions in shops. Consumers were filmed in two ceramic tile shops and their behaviour was analysed according to a previously validated checklist. Sequence of actions, their frequency of occurrence, and the duration of inspections were recorded, and consumers were classified according to their sensory exploration strategies. Results show that inspection patterns are intentional but shifting throughout the interaction. Considering the whole sequence, vision is the dominant sense followed by touch. However, sensory dominance varies throughout the sequence. The dominance differences appear between all senses and within the senses of vision, touch and audition. Cluster analysis classified consumers into two groups, those who were more interactive and those who were visual and passive evaluators. These results are very important for understanding consumer interaction patterns, which senses are involved (including their importance and hierarchy), and which sensory properties of tiles are evaluated during the shopping experience. Moreover, this information is crucial for setting design guidelines to improve sensory interactions and bridge sensory demands with product features.