An Approach to Evaluation of Aesthetic Function on Usability: An Exploratory Study About Descriptors of Aesthetic in Pruning Shears

Abstract

The aim of this study was to discuss the aesthetic evaluation in usability studies. Through an exploratory study with pruning shears, we seek to identify possible descriptors that make up the concept of beauty in these instruments for further evaluation of the perception of these factors with the variables of usability. The study was conducted with 90 subjects divided into three groups and both genders: Design teachers, students design and lay people in the matter. The interviews were individual. Each participant evaluated the appearance of nine pruning shears (with a focus on shape), with an issue which should answer what pruning shears considered more "beautiful", and a protocol for semantic differential with 18 pairs of descriptors of the beautiful, which were developed from definitions of beauty in dictionaries, theories of psychology and philosophy. We identified the most representative descriptors for the pruning shears elected most beautiful. The importance of these results is the possibility of carry out further tests about the influence of these descriptors in the perception of the usability of products, including the influence of the aesthetic function in the perception of usability.

Keywords: Aesthetics, Usability, Pruning Shears

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1001315