Kansei Engineering for small business : Shedding new light on product design

Abstract: The aim for this thesis was to apply Kansei Engineering to a small business and to design desktop light for office environment. Kansei Engineering is a method developed to turn the user's feelings and experiences into concrete product parameters. A method called Kansei Engineering Type I was applied to the desktop light. The aim of the method was to investigate which product parameters regarding the form that will give the users the most positive impression. The procedure was to extract Kansei word (adjectives, nouns, verbs and sentences that describes what the user should experience in the product), a sample of products and formulate a survey with a semantic differential scale. A sample of potential users from various companies answered the survey. The results from the survey was analyzed and interpreted. In the end the Kansei words could be connected to various product parameters and the parameters for the most positive impression could be concluded. This method was supplemented with creative methods which involved a survey and workshop with potential users and a brainwriting session with the company the author collaborated with. A few concepts were made and one were chosen. This concept was developed further using mockups. In the end a model was made using CAD and drawings was delivered to the company of collaboration.