Elsevier

Computers in Industry

Volume 144, January 2023, 103780
Computers in Industry

On the application of extended reality technologies for the evaluation of product characteristics during the initial stages of the product development process

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compind.2022.103780Get rights and content
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open access

Highlights

  • Jordan's socio category highly affected by formal product characteristics.

  • Jordan's physio category prone to be affected by presentation medium.

  • Differences were mostly found between 2D and 3D representations.

  • Participants were generally more confident in their responses in the VR environment.

  • Joint evaluation of several products provides less variability in the responses.

Abstract

Fast-growing global markets are forcing companies to continuously re-assess customer needs when designing new products. Product evaluation is a critical task to ensure success, but it can require significant financial and time investments. From an end-user standpoint, consumers must also evaluate multiple design options before purchasing a product, which is often a complex process, especially in online environments where traditional formats coexist with more sophisticated media. Modern extended reality technologies have become an effective tool for product assessment in professional design environments as well as a powerful mechanism for consumers during decision making activities. However, the modality used to view and evaluate the product may affect the perceptual response and thus the user’s overall evaluation. In this paper, we examine the influence of visual media in product assessment using different designs of a particular product typology. We discuss two studies where a group of participants used the semantic differential technique to evaluate four chair designs displayed in three different media. In our first study, participants used simultaneous evaluation to assess the products as presented in photographs, a non-immersive environment, and an Augmented Reality (AR) experience. In the second study, participants evaluated the product separately as viewed in non-photorealistic rendering, AR, and virtual reality (VR). We used the “Aligned Rank Transform” proceedings to find differences between groups for the semantic scales, the overall evaluation, the purchasing decision, and the response confidence. Our results show that visual media influences product perception. Certain characteristics in Jordan's physio-pleasure category are particularly significant as perceptual differences are more pronounced. Immersive media can highlight some product attributes and a joint evaluation can help minimize these differences.

Keywords

Virtual reality
Augmented reality
Semantic Differential
Design Representation
Product evaluation
Perception

Data availability

The authors do not have permission to share data.

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