Characteristics of the Appearance and Uniqueness of Humidifiers

Kano proposed the concepts of "must-be quality" and "attractive quality," which play important roles in improving the attractiveness of a product to distinguish it from other products. In this study, we focus on the Kansei value in terms of design that appeals to the emotions. The uniqueness of the appearance of a product has a novelty value, and users will be attracted to products promising a sense of pleasure. Therefore, it is important that the appearance of a product is unique. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the impression gained from the appearance of products and the uniqueness of the products. We classified products by using a Kansei evaluation and discussed the impression of a product and its form as product characteristics. The findings of this study indicate that similar products with a similar appearance have a similar score in terms of the uniqueness factor and similar tendencies in terms of a Kansei evaluation. This indicates that products with a high uniqueness score, likewise score high in other Kansei items. In other words, the feeling of uniqueness for products is a Kansei value that includes positive emotions. This suggests that the first impression of a product a person has, influences the Kansei evaluation based on a visual appraisal. It is considered that a product with the highest uniqueness factor distinguishes itself from other products in appearance in terms of the Kansei values of "Distinctive," "Individual," "Interesting" and "Want to show".