Kansei engineering as a powerful consumer-oriented technology for product development

Kansei engineering was founded 30 years ago, as an ergonomics and consumer-oriented technology for producing a new product. When a consumer wants to buy something, he/she will have a kind of feeling and image (kansei in Japanese) in his/her mind. If the consumer's feeling Could be implemented in the new product, he/she would be more satisfied with the product. Kansei engineering aims at translation of kansei into the product design field including product mechanical function. This is why it is called the consumer-oriented aspect. There are many products in Japan which have applied kansei engineering. Recently, it has also been applied to construction products as well as to community design. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.