Perception of products by progressive multisensory integration. A study on hammers

The aim of this work is to determine the influence of multisensory (visual-haptic) integration and the level of interaction (seeing photographs, seeing the actual product, touching it and using it) on the perception of products, including perceived ergonomics. The product selected for the experiment was the hammer, as this will help to establish whether emotional design studies can also apply to ‘commercial’ products. Subjective opinions of users were evaluated through semantic differential tests. A factor analysis identified six semantic factors or axes (Quality/Robustness, Ergonomics/Appearance, Innovation, Lightness, Dynamic Effects, and Efficacy). Results show that Lightness and Dynamic Effects are quite sensitive to the level of interaction, while Ergonomics/Appearance is partially affected. However, the perceptions of Innovation, Quality/Robustness and Efficacy are not so affected and they could be detected through a lower level of interaction (i.e. seeing photographs). This suggests that commercial products seem sensitive to emotional design studies and that multisensory integration enhances the perception of the factors that are clearly linked with physical interaction between users and tools, i.e. Ergonomics/Appearance, Lightness and Dynamic Effects. Additionally, it should be highlighted that some aspects related with the ergonomics and ease of use of products are also perceived at different stages of interaction.