We conducted a classification analysis to identify factors associated with sitting comfort and discomfort. The objective was to investigate the possible multidimensional nature of comfort and discomfort. Descriptors of feelings of comfort and discomfort were solicited from office workers and validated in a questionnaire study. From this study, 43 descriptors emerged. The 42 participants rated the similarity of all 903 pairs of descriptors, and we subjected the resulting similarity matrix to multidimensional scaling, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. Two main factors emerged, which were interpreted as comfort and discomfort. Based on these findings, we postulate a hypothetical model for perception of comfort and discomfort. Comfort and discomfort need to be treated as different and complementary entities in ergonomic investigations.
A previous study defined sitting comfort and discomfort as independent entities associated with different factors: discomfort is related to biomechanics and fatigue factors, and comfort to a sense of well-being and aesthetics. In this study a checklist for evaluation of chair comfort and discomfort was analysed in two field studies. In the first study two groups of subjects, ten secretaries and ten managers, evaluated two groups of ten chairs. Subjects assessed each chair three times during a workday using three different types of scales. The results of a factor analysis reconfirmed the factor structure of comfort and discomfort. Analysis of variance demonstrated that discomfort was related to fatigue accumulated during the workday, but it was not related to chair design. There was no significant Chair x Time period interaction, which implies that the rank order of preference among a set of chairs was established during the first assessment and did not change during the day. In a second field study 37 secretaries used three different formats of a Chair Evaluation Checklist with 14 items. The results of a factor analysis again confirmed the factor structure of comfort and discomfort. Analyses of variance demonstrated that subjects can evaluate comfort and discomfort simultaneously without any halo-effect. The results have methodological implications for measurement of comfort and discomfort. The findings for comfort, as defined, carry an important message that aesthetic design matters. This could provide a unifying focus for ergonomists and designers.
Most studies on product design have focused on customer needs concerning functionality and utility. Rarely has the issue of customer emotions been investigated. Traditional cognitive approaches to product usability tend to underestimate the importance of customer emotions in design. Not surprisingly, the success of a product in the marketplace may be determined by its aesthetic appeal, the pleasure it creates, and the satisfaction it brings to the customer. Emotions influence how a customer interacts with the product. In the interaction, feelings accompany thinking. This article characterizes customer emotions and issues concerning their measurement. The literature has documented various methods for measuring and evaluating emotions, but only a few are relevant to product development. In this article, we illustrate subjective and objective methods that are commonly used in evaluating customer emotion to an artifact. While evidence suggests that emotion matters in determining the sales potential of products, the measurement of emotions may be difficult because of the indefinite relationship between an emotion and its behavioral expression. Culture has a strong effect on what customers look for in a product and how they interpret the product and its interfaces. We present a framework for analysis of customer emotions in relation to the designer’s environment. The framework is part of the product development life cycle, where customer needs and measured emotions are input early in the design process. The goal is to achieve a pleasurable and satisfying product.
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