The influence of curvature and proportion on emotional preference for human-machine interface design

• Published in: Multimedia tools and applications Vol. 81; no. 30; pp. 43581 - 43611
• Main Author: Deng, Li
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Computer Communication Networks; Computer Science; Curvature; Data Structures and Information Theory; Design; Emotions; Factor analysis; Man-machine interfaces; Multimedia Information Systems; Perception; Special Purpose and Application-Based Systems; Variance analysis; Product design; Aesthetics; Proportion; Curvature; Emotional preference
• ISSN: 1380-7501; 1573-7721
• DOI: 10.1007/s11042-022-12835-x

Previous studies had found that people preferred curved visual objects. This study aimed to explore the relationship between curvature and proportion of human-machine interface and emotional preference based on Kansei Engineering. First, through the survey, the five groups of target emotional images of human-machine interface were deduced: Safe - Dangerous, Rigorous - Lively, Masculine - Feminine, Cold - Warm, and Soft - Hard. Secondly, different curvature and proportion levels were used as stimuli to explore their influence on emotional preference. Participants in the experiment interacted with the prototype of human-machine interface samples, and provide Likert scale scores about emotional preference for each sample. Then, based on analysis of variance and factor analysis, the subjects’ perception to the evaluated interface was revealed. In Study 1, one-way analysis of variance studied the influence of curvature levels of human-machine interface on emotional preference. The results showed that curvature was positively correlated with the emotions of safe, lively, feminine, warm, and soft, while curvature was negatively correlated with the emotions of dangerous, rigorous, masculine, cold, and hard. In Study 2, one-way analysis of variance studied the influence of the proportion of length to width of human-machine interface on emotional preference. The results showed that the proportion affected Safe - Dangerous, Rigorous - Lively, Masculine - Feminine, and Cold - Warm, but not Soft - Hard. In Study 3, a two-way analysis of variance was conducted with Serious - Relaxed as target emotions, and the curvature and proportion were changed at the same time. The results showed no interaction between curvature and proportion, and people’s perception of curvature change was stronger than proportion. Therefore, designers should pay more attention to curvature design than the proportion of length to width of human-machine interface, and use curvature design to meet the consumers’ emotional needs, to increase aesthetic pleasure.