"Autonomous, yet connected": A social design principle explaining consumers' aesthetic appreciation of products

Product aesthetics are now widely recognized as a valuable marketing tool. As a result several design principles have been identified that can be used to design products that achieve positive consumer appreciation:... [ view full abstract ]

Product aesthetics are now widely recognized as a valuable marketing tool. As a result several design principles have been identified that can be used to design products that achieve positive consumer appreciation: “simplicity/complexity”, unity-in-variety, Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable. A recent perspective on aesthetic appreciation argues that consumers prefer a balance in seemingly opposing design facets (e.g., novelty versus typicality), because consumers are simultaneously motivated to fulfill the basic evolutionary needs for safety and accomplishment. The design principles described in the literature pertain mostly to perceptual and cognitive levels. However, products also serve a social symbolic value to consumers; they use product designs to communicate something about themselves to others. We are the first to identify a design principle in which the two opposing needs for safety and accomplishment can be fulfilled by a product design on a social level: “autonomous, yet connected”. We show that the relationship between aesthetic appreciation and “autonomous, yet connected” is similar to the aforementioned cognitive and perceptual design principles: product designs that communicate connectedness and autonomy simultaneously are the most aesthetically appreciated. Furthermore, we show that social safety/risk associated with a product category shifts the optimal balance to a preference for either connectedness or autonomy.