Using Kansei Engineering for the Design Thinking Framework: Bamboo Pen Holder Product Design

Xue Gong (), Zhuen Guo and Zhongqu Xie
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Xue Gong: Department of Design, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214000, China
Zhuen Guo: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550031, China
Zhongqu Xie: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: Recently, as a potential source of stationery products, bamboo has been continuously excavated for its commercial value in sustainable development. The research on the design of the bamboo pen holder, based on the concept of sustainable design, is not only a symbol of Chinese culture but also a reflection of perceptual factors underlying college students’ preferences. This study aims at user-centered product design by integrating Design Thinking (DT) and Kansei Engineering (KE). We proposed the KE–DT framework which allows designers to coordinate the user’s feelings as design elements. With various college student questionnaires, expert interviews, and cluster analysis, 7 Kansei words were selected to describe the sentimental value first. Using statistical analysis, the users’ emotional preference for each Kansei word was determined. Finally, the best shape of the pen holder was obtained by Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP), and the stereoscopic product was displayed. A new round of questionnaire surveys was conducted with the optimized pen container and the previous group. The results indicated that curvature had a significant effect on the preference for bamboo stationery in terms of user and designer cognitive differences. Furthermore, the bamboo pen holder designed by the KE–DT framework proved widely popular.

Keywords: product design; design thinking; kansei engineering; bamboo pen holder; shape optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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