Content Analysis of literature on Mobile Phone Design Features

摘要

It can be difficult to articulate why we find specific designs more attractive than others. A detailed content analysis of the media relating to a specific product or domain can help develop insights into what factors may contribute to aesthetic evaluation. Using content analysis, researchers can further investigate the identified factors to learn about the preferred levels and potential interactions. This article summarizes a detailed content analysis of factors that contribute to aesthetic judgment of mobile phones. The article goes on to outline current work on using an Interactive Genetic Algorithm to iteratively evolve a mobile phone design with user feedback at each iteration. The mobile phone domain was chosen because of its ubiquity and use by many as both a functional device and an aesthetic statement. The content analysis identified seven testable groups of words that were used to describe aesthetics. In the decreasing order of prevalence of occurrence, they are: size, color, texture, shape, thickness, features, and symmetry. Size of components or of the phone as a whole was mentioned significantly more than other factors. These findings will drive the factors tested in the future work that can reduce the time for a product designer to arrive at an optimal design.