Establishing a semantic differential on product prototype aesthetics: a research approach

So far, studies on general judgments of products mainly focused on usability. Only recently, product aesthetics is considered as well. In this context, both information on the visual aesthetics of products and product prototypes are important issues. Several scales exist which measure visual aesthetics of products. However, no scale on the aesthetics of product prototypes has been established yet. In this article, the construction of a valid and reliable German version of a semantic differential on the visual aesthetics of product prototypes is suggested. An initial pool of items shall be developed in an expert workshop. For validation of the scale, 200 participants shall judge product prototypes with the item pool. By statistical analysis preferentially about 10 to 15 items will be chosen for the final scale. Validity will be assessed by looking at correlations of the scale with a 1-item question on beauty and the ability of the scale to differentiate between products differing in aesthetics.