Attribute-based design perceptions and consumer-brand relationship: Role of user expertise

Why do consumers love certain brands but not some others? A major reason is the design of products made by such brands and the quality of experience. By developing a measure of product design perception as well as resultant experience, this work explores how design can be a pertinent source of strong consumer-brand relationship, operationalized as consumer-based brand equity. Literature of product design, though very rich, is still anchored to the utilitarian-hedonic value derived paradigms, with little attribute-oriented design measurement efforts, a gap this work attempts to fill. Additionally, a multi-dimensional scale is developed for an exhaustive operationalization of a product's design. A rigorous scale development process reveals five design perception dimensions, namely visual, functional, kinesthetic, interface, and information. Strong relationship between design perception, user experience and brand equity is observed providing strong advisory to designers and managers to focus on innovative experiential designs for a stronger consumer-equity.