A Product Design Strategy that Comprehensively Considers Consumer Behavior and Psychological Emotional Needs

In product design, the consideration of consumers’ emotional needs has gained increasing importance. While traditional methods of emotional ergonomics have been widely applied in various areas of product design, they tend to focus more on consumers’ intuition rather than their behavior. Consequently, design decisions may not accurately reflect the genuine voice of consumers. This study aims to assist designers in restructuring and upgrading designs by taking into account consumers’ psychological and behavioral requirements. To obtain valuable insights into consumers’ emotional needs, a comprehensive design approach is proposed. This method comprises three layers: the design element layer, the perceived image vocabulary layer, and the relationship layer between design elements and perceived image vocabulary. In the first layer, design elements are identified. In the second layer, perceived image vocabulary for product design is established. In the third layer, the relationship between design elements and perceived image vocabulary is analyzed using a quantitative theory based on the least squares method. The design features of the target product are discovered based on consumers’ emotional needs. Finally, the practicality and effectiveness of this design model are validated through a case study using CNC machine tools. The results of the case study demonstrate the promising application prospects of this method in consumer-emotion-based product designs.