Form Attributes to Measure and Understand Aesthetic Preferences

Abstract The aesthetics of a product is critical to its desirability, and can be described in terms of syntactics and semantics. Syntactic aesthetics is an objective description based on the form and configuration of a product, while semantic aesthetics is a subjective interpretation of the form and gestalt of a product. This study seeks to identify a set of syntactic attributes to describe form and understand if an individual’s preferences for a form are consistent from one product to another. Form attributes from previous literature were expanded upon to create a consistent vocabulary for syntactic aesthetics that can be used to describe multiple products. Combinations of four selected attributes are utilized to describe a diverse set of designs for two products: vases and canopies. Conjoint analysis is used to quantitatively measure the form preferences of individuals towards different combinations of attribute levels of the objects. Results from conjoint analysis applied to vase and canopy designs indicate a 61.3% consistency of individual form preferences between the products. It is hoped that this methodology can help designers develop aesthetically consistent products that align with users’ preferences by quantifying users’ aesthetic preferences towards products through a vocabulary for syntactic attributes.