There's recently been a resurgence in interest in Kansei Engineering principles as they might be applied to design within an NPD environment in Consumer Packaged Goods. This has been discussed especially in relation to packaging design - for example see this link.
Affective Design, or Kansei Engineering, is a technology for translating a consumer's feelings and image of a product into design elements. It originated in Japan in the 1970s and became big there in the 1990s. The Japan Society of Kansei Engineering has taken the lead worldwide in embracing this approach across a wide range of industries including automotive, electrical goods, clothing, cosmetics and confectionery. With the exception of the recent interesting Nestle activity, the technology does not appear to have been applied commercially yet within the UK Consumer Packaged Goods industry, but we are discussing Kansei with quite a few of our clients.
In broad terms, we're delighted that talk around Kansei has fuelled the growing debate about how research and development techniques need to take on a more holistic attitude than previously. Both Kansei and Brandphonics recognise that features play an important role in the communication of emotions, and that emotions play an important role in how products are chosen.
There are, though, a few key differences in the methods which are worth bearing in mind. Kansei typically involves the creation of a vocabulary by "experts" This vocabulary typically relates to "perceived" attributes - whether emotional or functional. The Brandphonics approach again involves the creation of a vocabulary (typically developed using an initial research phase), but the main difference here is that the terms are always possible descriptions of the respondent's "conceptualisation" of the object. For an understanding of why this distinction between perceptions and conceptualisations is important please see this post.
Brandphonics then typically uses a Best Worst Scaling approach to access the subconscious fit of each term to the stimulus material. Crucially, the choice-based research technique avoids prolonged rationalisation. Our own understanding of how Kansei has been implemented does not assure us that there is a way of avoiding a serious potential issue, that is, analysis of data which has been created using an overly rational approach inappropriate for the measurement of emotional fit. There is absolutely no reason though, why Brandphonics research tools cannot be used as part of a Kansei project and provide data which fits its ambitious principles.
Please contact us if you'd like to learn more!
By the way - to read about why the blog post image is appropriate please click here and read about other Kansei applications.
Tags: kansei, affective design, brandphonics