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Understanding the Relationship between Aesthetics and Product Design

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 International Journal of Engineering Technology Science and Research
IJETSR
www.ijetsr.com
ISSN 2394 – 3386
Volume 5, Issue 3
March 2018

Understanding the Relationship between Aesthetics and

Product Design

Jitender, Prabir Sarkar

Indian Institute of Technology-Ropar, Punjab

Abstract:
Product design is progressively being accepted by marketing experts and also from consumer researchers, it playsa vital
role for any company for his success and maintaina good position of the companyin a competitive market. But, with a
change of time, the term aesthetics is also introduced in the market and start playing an important role in any product. In
this work, we are doing full literature survey on product design and aesthetics. And try to find how both the term related
to each other or (what is therelation between aesthetics and design of the product). And how they impact the product,
company and customer perceptions. In this study, we try to conclude that how aesthetics is important for any product
during its design phase. How they affect purchase decision of customer, and how they maintain market position any
company during globalization.In this study, we try to evaluate how aesthetics, in general,is used in theproduct, work, and
system design in particular.
Keywords: Product design; Aesthetics; Customer; Market; Culture;

1. INTRODUCTION
From the viewpoint of thedesigner, and industrial research, there is a growing acknowledgment that product
design is emerging as an essential marketing element(Kotler & Alexander Rath, 1984; Wallendorf, 1980).
This is true for product design in which aesthetics and human interactions are involved. Thus product design
and aesthetics are the key marketing elements for competitive and,emerging global market(Greer &
Eisenstein, 1975; Wallendorf, 1980).Recently it seems that the influence of product design on product
preferences has increased(Greer & Eisenstein, 1975). There is no effective theory or study on adesign that,
how they affect customer perception during purchase. So, the psychological science is the only area who helps
the designer, product designer and industrial designer for describing the lack of theories of design (Schummer,
MacLennan, & Taylor, 2009).

2. Product design
After the globalization of theworld, thedesign is perceived as the most effective and strategic tool for all
companies to gain substantial growth inthecompetitivemarket. Until recently, many industries use to discard
design as a strategic tool. However, researchers claim that with the help of good design,one can enhance
communications, environment, corporate identity of products(Kotler & Alexander Rath, 1984).The term
‘Design’mostly refers to a particular composition or a process. For the consumer and industrial products
development this process usually includes teams of product designers, marketing expert, engineers,
technicians, scientists and also experts from the other fields(Bohrer, 2005). Basically,design refers to the
product or process composition. requiring collaboration among the engineers, product designer, technicians,
scientists, experts from marketing area and also experts from other areas(Sylcott, Cagan, & Tabibnia,
2011).Product design is the term which plays acritical role in any industries or product to sustain in the
competitive market. The prime target of the processes of designs is to produce a good ‘design’. Often for
themanufacturer and for most consumers, this good design denotes that which performs its function within its
economic limits.Mumcu & Kimzan(Mumcu & Kimzan, 2015) states that product design plays a vital role in
cooperating a product’s use and functional technique to the customer. Good design has a better ability to

363 Jitender, Prabir Sarkar

 International Journal of Engineering Technology Science and Research
IJETSR
www.ijetsr.com
ISSN 2394 – 3386
Volume 5, Issue 3
March 2018

speak or communicate the functions of products.Industrial or product design is probably most linked with the
aesthetic considerations of a product. This (such as, texture, shape, and symmetry) mainly describe the outer
surfaces which cover the inner think (for example electrical or mechanical components) of a product(Bohrer,
2005).Basically, aesthetics of any product is influenced by the structure of any product (such as its function or
working area). The main purpose of aesthetics is to showoff (or speak out) the function of any product rather
than to hide it(Veryzer Jr, 1993).Design or product aesthetics is one of the main influencingfactorsof the
consumerbehavior.Thus, it is well understood that product aesthetics play a vital role in product
design(Anurit, 2006).
2.1. Aesthetics
Since last two and half decades global industries is changing day by day. And, at the same time demands of
young generation from global market is also changing. Sometimes product act as a sign of prestige for a
customer and nowadays the demands of the customer is different from older times (Nayak, 2015). Similarly,
aesthetic appeal is one of the most important things for any product to sustain in a market. According to
Fast(Faste, 1995), aesthetics is a branch of psychology. Liu (Liu, 2003) states that the term aesthetics is our
perception or opinion of an object based on what we see, feel, hear, smell and even taste. Additionally, our
opinion could be based on one or all of these senses. Aesthetics is a manner of experience. It’s one of the ways
we judge, feel, and “know” the world (Faste, 1995). Both the theoretical debates and the experiential research
accepted that aesthetic responses and appraisals are not limited to beauty judgments(Hekkert, 2006).
Relatively, there is a complete variety of aesthetic philosophies such as the comic, the sublime, the humorous,
the beautiful, the ‘cool’, the ugly, the pretty, the tragic, the funky, and the fashionable (Honderich, 1995).
Basically, the word “aesthetics” originates from Greek term aisthanomai, which means anopinion by the
sanities (Ford, 2009).

3. Indian aesthetics
The term “Satyam Shivam Sundaram” in Indian philosophy is the supreme concept of excellency Satya is
originated from Sanskrit word and 'Sat' means is truthfulness. “Shivam” originates from the Sanskrit which
literally means of “Shiva”. And, another meaning of that word is graceful or prosperous. “Sundaram” word
originates from Sanskrit language and literally, themeaning of that word is right, well, and the handsome or
beautiful. (Frazier, 2010). Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy and arts. Primarily Indian aesthetics is divided
into three type of arts – music, architecture, and poetry. At the same time sign and symbols is the strength of
Indian arts. Music and architecture show the freedom of expression or feeling to someone and poetry is the
highest form of arts. (Frazier, 2010; Gupta, 2017). There are two broad categories in which schools of Indian
Philosophy is divided, the schools of orthodox (astika) and heterodox (nastika). They also are known as non-
atheist and atheist (Gupta, 2017). In the context of aesthetics, the first theory of inference is given in the 19th
century. In that theory, they told about the emotive aesthetics experience and infer the emotion of a person on
stage from his actions, perceptible physical changes, and utterances, such movement of hand and expression
of eyes (Pandey, 1965).

4. The importance aesthetics in product design

In the modern age, it is very difficult for any product to sustain in global market only with the functional
appeal. So, aesthetics play a very important role for any product to sustain in the market(Juster et al., 2001). In
day-to-day life, the term ‘aesthetics’ is used broadly in an environmentlike beauty salons to makeups gallery
for the appreciation of pleasurable objects and fine arts. Why aesthetics is very important for every sector,
according to (Bjerke, Ind, & De Paoli, 2007) from 18th-century aesthetic play a vital role in furniture
industries. From last one and half decades, aesthetics play avery important role in kitchen cabinet industry to
attract alarge number of people from all finical groups (Xiaolei, Jun, & Bing, 2014). As some of an economic
researcher try to find out the key issues which present at the intersection of fashion, aesthetics and also try to
find the theoretical insights into bodily appearance and the aesthetics of fashion (Venkatesh, Joy, Sherry Jr., &

364 Jitender, Prabir Sarkar

 International Journal of Engineering Technology Science and Research
IJETSR
www.ijetsr.com
ISSN 2394 – 3386
Volume 5, Issue 3
March 2018

Deschenes, 2010). Some interface designer tries to find out how “charm factor” in-app icon designing plays
an important role and at which level the design of app icons increase the curiosity of user(Hou & Ho, 2013).

5. Relationship between product design and aesthetics

Product design is an interdisciplinary area. There is various kind of design approaches such as industrial
design, engineering design, ergonomic design, aesthetic design, and design as per usability. It’s rare to include
all the design concerns in thesingle product during designing of any product. That’s why in amaximum of the
products they are not giving much importance to an ergonomics and aesthetics. The drawback of this process
is a complete failure of the product in themarket. The product is not accepted by the society both
psychologically and physically. The aim of this research work is to find out the relationship between
aesthetics and product design.Many philosophers of technical field believe that there is very less role of
aesthetics in technology. Indeed, several technological descriptions start with discussing the equivocalness of
the term art in order to differentiate the valuable arts from the fine arts (Schummer et al., 2009). The term fine
arts, useful arts, technology,and science have continuously been debated and certainly redefined many times
in the course of history. Also, reflecting the social status of the corresponding profession (Schummer et al.,
2009; Venkatesh & Meamber, 2006).From last two decades, aesthetics also play a vital role in the automobile
industry. According to (Hung& Chen, 2009) aesthetics have a greater impact on a commercial success and
subsequent vehicle’s desirability. Also, aesthetic features of any product have a greater effect on the success
of any product in this competitive market.
The automobile industry is one of the emerging markets in worldwide and the role of visuals aesthetics is very
important for the success of vehicle in the market (Warell, 2015). One of the giant automobile company stated
that more than 50% of a consumer decision is taken place on the basis of its styling rather than the vehicle
technical performance (Kreuzbauer& Malter, 2005). The Key issue related to aesthetics is; either experience
of aesthetics is emanated from the object or produced by the perceiver of the object. This matter is evident in
anumber of ongoing discussions like is aresponseto aesthetic is subjective or not and is there any rule for
bounding the beauty. There is also one issue that there is any aesthetics nature in objects (Bullough, 1912).
Moreover, theexperience of aesthetics takes place when we are not concerned with the practical or useful
consideration (Bullough, 1912; Kotler & Alexander Rath, 1984).InUlrich(Ulrich, 2006) view there are three
different ways of cognitive response from any aesthetics experience. The responseto aesthetics is quick,
usually in seconds of contact to the artifact.
In anatural sense the experience of aesthetics is unbiased (positive (attraction or beauty), or negative
(repulsion or ugliness). In order to create a product design that is trendy and aesthetically pleasurable,
designers should take into account product designs that people are exposed to in their daily life(Nayak,
2015).In the context of theproduct, aesthetics relates to what the product presents to the senses, especially
vision.Product esthetics is considered as the essential design element that works in concert with useful
benefits to build important primary impressions and long-term customer satisfaction(Bloch,
2011).Experimental studies have investigated cognitive feedback to product aesthetics, such as product quality
judgments (Landwehr, Wentzel, & Herrmann, 2010) andbrand categorization(Kreuzbauer& Malter, 2005).
The outcomeshows that customers make their preliminarydecision about the product through their
estheticunderstanding, and this conclusion may have an influence on the overall assessment of product
performance (Norman, 2003). Therefore, designers use their training, skill, and experience to create products
that induce a positive esthetic impression. However, customers and designers often understand products
differently and express different esthetic preferences (Yi-Yen, 2000). Customerreactions to esthetic product
attribute can be found in the study of the effects of package design on customers’behavior, emotional, and
neural reactions(Reimann, Zaichkowsky, Neuhaus, Bender, & Weber, 2010).

6. Aim and methodology

This research aims to explore the importance of aesthetics in product design from different perspectives. First,
we explore literature to understand the application and importance of aesthetics in product design. We take

365 Jitender, Prabir Sarkar

 International Journal of Engineering Technology Science and Research
IJETSR
www.ijetsr.com
ISSN 2394 – 3386
Volume 5, Issue 3
March 2018

published literature from different search engines (such as google scholar, Elsevier, Wiley, T&f, SAGE,
ASME, Emerald, Books and some international conference paper.) of the last 20-30 years. Then, we
categories the findings on the basis priority. Later, we make asummary of all the published work in
thedifferent area.
In Section 4, we discuss the importance of aesthetics in product design. How aesthetics is important in day-to-
day form past time to recent day and also in future. How they impact not only the human life but also the
global market. In Section 5, we discuss how any product and its design depend on aesthetics or how
aesthetics is important for any product in customer viewpoint.To what extent aesthetics affect any product.In
thelastSection, that we discuss the overall findings of the research and discuss the importance of aesthetics in
product design from every viewpoint.
Findings and discussion:
Author Finding
Anurit, J. (2006) In his work, they find that, in thedeveloped country how luxury brand cars
act as social status.

Bjerke, R., Ind, N., & In this study Bjerke explore the influence of aesthetics on employee
De Paoli, D. (2007) motivation and satisfaction.
Bohrer, J. (2005) They basically define the use of design in engineering products.
Bullough, E. (1912) In this chapter, they discuss the development of different theories of
aesthetics.
Faste, R. A. (1995) Faste discuss how theinvolvement of aesthetics with engineering to create
a successful product.
Ford, P. (2009) In this chapter, Paul Ford discusses thedifferent definition of aesthetics.
Gupta, N. A. (2017) In N. A Gupta, book writer describes different definition and evolution
Frazier, J. (2010) regarding Indian aesthetics. In J. Frazier, thebook they describe the
evolution of Indian art.
Hekkert, P. (2006) In this study, Hekkert tries to find out the how toexperience certain things
as gratifying to our senses.
Hung, W.-K., & Chen, They examined the joint influence of product aesthetics and typicality on
L.-L. (2009) preference responses by using thechair as an example.
Liu, Y. (2003) In this study, Liu tries to find out the two distinct thinks that differentiate
aesthetic review of products and system design from theaestheticgratitude
of art and lays out animaginary foundation as well as a two-process
research procedure for aesthetics.
Landwehr, J. R., How luxury values the brands of aluxury car company and they effect
Wentzel, D., & marketing strategy of any company.
Herrmann, A. (2010)
In ageneral way, aesthetics refers to thestudy of sensory values. This means senses is used for judgment or
evolution of any product. In afashionable sense, aesthetics is used to indicate particular design or style. For
example, some designs indicate some specific area or culture of thespecific community. In thehistory of
China, thestudy of human nature and art is known as aesthetics. In his history, aesthetics is independent of
religion or culture.In Islam, the term aesthetics is related to God or pureness (i.e. things which is created by
God is perfect). In Islamicculture, most of time aesthetics are used only in mosques mosaics and the product
which is related to God. In Western culture, artists used inspiration form Devil, God and Things which is
related to God to define the beauty of product or artistic work the(Ford, 2009; Honderich, 1995).At the same
time, there are some major factors that affecting aesthetics. In term of building, architectural styles, sizes,and

366 Jitender, Prabir Sarkar

 International Journal of Engineering Technology Science and Research
IJETSR
www.ijetsr.com
ISSN 2394 – 3386
Volume 5, Issue 3
March 2018

shapes. In building the factors are colors, texture, shadow,andsunlight. For automobile section, texture, colors,
brand name,and splines or source of inspiration is main the factor that affects the aesthetics values(Landwehr
et al., 2010).

Conclusion
From previous time atechnical person is limited only to thefunctionality of theproduct,not on the beauty of the
product. But, from last few years,the term aesthetics relate to profit, money and growth. Because aesthetics
play important role in thecurrent market. If any product is aesthetically good.They make apositive image of
thecompany in themarket. Marketing researcher those who have interests in design area try to attract the
students those who have adesign background to their doctoral programs. Multinational and international are
start hiring person with marketing academic and also with excellent design skills. In this study, we find out
theimportance of aesthetics, ergonomics and product design for any product for his sustainable growth in
thehighly competitive market. During literature review, we find out therelationship between aesthetics and
product design. During thestudy we find out aesthetics play anequal role in thefunctionality of theproduct. If
there is two product with equal functionality but in term of aesthetic point of view one is good and not. In
many practical experiments the product with good aesthetics accepted bya large number of people. In this
study, we only try to find out the relationship of aesthetics or product design. In future, we will try to explore
the methods of measurement of aesthetics in theproduct.

Acknowledgment:
We acknowledge the support of Department Of Science and Technology, India.

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IJETSR
www.ijetsr.com
ISSN 2394 – 3386
Volume 5, Issue 3
March 2018

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