<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p> Consumers purchase products with the objective of reducing pain, increasing pleasure or both. Product aesthetics primarily contribute to enhancing consumer pleasure, and utilitarian attributes, such as product functionality, primarily help reduce consumer pain. So the question is how consumers choose between the goals of reducing pain and enhancing pleasure. In the case of functional dominance, consumers attach greater importance to fulfilling their minimum utilitarian needs over their minimum hedonic ones. By contrast, if consumers have to choose between two products, and one product meets their minimum functional requirement but exceeds their minimum aesthetic expectations, while the other meets their minimum aesthetic expectations but exceeds their minimum functional requirement, they select the product with superior aesthetics. A balanced design with an optimal combination of attributes and emotional experiences will reach a greater price on the market and insure higher profits.</p>
</abstract>

Consumers purchase products with the objective of reducing pain, increasing pleasure or both. Product aesthetics primarily contribute to enhancing consumer pleasure, and utilitarian attributes, such as product functionality, primarily help reduce consumer pain. So the question is how consumers choose between the goals of reducing pain and enhancing pleasure. In the case of functional dominance, consumers attach greater importance to fulfilling their minimum utilitarian needs over their minimum hedonic ones. By contrast, if consumers have to choose between two products, and one product meets their minimum functional requirement but exceeds their minimum aesthetic expectations, while the other meets their minimum aesthetic expectations but exceeds their minimum functional requirement, they select the product with superior aesthetics. A balanced design with an optimal combination of attributes and emotional experiences will reach a greater price on the market and insure higher profits.

Design for Affect: A Core Competency for the 21<sup>st</sup> Century

Associate Professor of Marketing, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA

NIM Marketing Intelligence Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Design for Affect: A Core Competency for the 21 Century

Consumers purchase products with the objective of reducing pain, increasing pleasure or both. Product aesthetics primarily contribute to enhancing consumer...

Design for Affect: A Core Competency for the 21^st Century

Published Online: Nov 05, 2015

Page range: 16 - 21

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/gfkmir-2015-0012

Keywords
Design, Emotions, Hedonic, Utilitarian, Aesthetics, Functionality

© 2015

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Design for Affect: A Core Competency for the 21st Century

Published Online: Nov 05, 2015

Page range: 16 - 21

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/gfkmir-2015-0012

KeywordsDesign, Emotions, Hedonic, Utilitarian, Aesthetics, Functionality

© 2015

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Design for Affect: A Core Competency for the 21^st Century

Keywords
Design, Emotions, Hedonic, Utilitarian, Aesthetics, Functionality