Leveraging Kansei Philosophy to Support Product Design Criticism

Abstract:

The world of design, especially in the field of industrial design, is facing a noticeable poverty in the art and science of design criticism. And because the nature of the products depends mainly on their function, therefore evaluating the design based on its usability aspects was the prevailing. But in fact, evaluating a design is very different from criticizing it. Design criticism is a kind of description of the impression the design leaves on the conscience of recipient. But how can we make criticism comprehensive and neutral if the critic is talking about what the design has left on his conscience? Many of design experts have tended to rely on experience and subjectivity to build their criticism. But this way does more harm than benefit the designer, because he doesn't understand a way to improve his design until this criticism becomes constructive and not just expressing an opinion. Here is the problematic of this research. Which supposes a way to overcome this in the guidance of the Kansai philosophy and to find a way to rise from the subjective Kansai to the general Kansai through the upgrading of Quotient Emotion (EQ). This is considered a precedent, as no one has addressed this topic before in study and research. And to employ Kansai procedures in supporting design criticism in the field of industrial product design through methods of upgrading and measuring Quotient Emotion, a simple experiment was conducted to clarify the general idea; It is evident from the results that by practicing the upgrading of Quotient Emotion, the proportion of individuality and subjectivity and the number of Kansai words have Reduced to less than half to become more focused, accurate and objective. And the rates of approach to the Higher Kansai and the General Kansai have increased significantly.