Evaluations of products based on visual stimuli are at the same time both subjective and important. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the visual properties of wood flooring and people’s reactions to computer visualization of interior wood products. The research strategy involved showing digital pictures of the same room, but with different wood floorings. The impressions of potential consumers were measured by means of rating scales for each descriptive word. This was done using the method of Kansei engineering, in which statistical connections between properties and semantics (descriptions) were analyzed. The research presented here contributes to theory and practice in two important ways. First and most important, the study shows that the chosen method is suitable for measuring people’s preferences on visualizations of interior wood. Second, the results indicate that certain properties are important for a floor to be judged as ‘‘good-looking’’ and others for a floor to be deemed ‘‘modern’’ or ‘‘vivid.’’
Contributor Notes
The authors are, respectively, Research Scientist, Div. of Wood Sci. and Technology, Luleå Univ. of Tech (dr@nordvik.se); Assistant Professor, Dept. of Management and Engineering, Linköping Univ. (simon.schutte@liu.se); and Assistant Professor, Div. of Wood Sci. and Technology, Luleå Univ. of Tech (olof.broman@ltu.se). This paper was received for publication in May 2009. Article no. 10631.