Kansei Engineering is a methodology for translating the instantaneous feelings and emotions of the customer into design parameters. The methodology has enjoyed commercial success in Japan where it was developed to the extent that it has now become embedded in Japanese design practice. Currently, little work is being carried out in Kansei Engineering in the US or Europe outside of academia

In Kansei terms a product comprises a number of functional and non-functional features. A mobile phone, for example, may have functional features such as a clock, calendar, address book, games, camera etc.; you can even phone people on some of them! As the name suggests, the non-functional features are the elements that have no function as such, for example body colour, length/width ratio, body shape, button style etc. If you were to adopt a logical approach to choosing a phone, you could list all of the desirable functions along with a price range to draw up a short list of potentials.  But how do you make the final choice and select one phone from the short list? In most situations there is no logical way to choose between competing products. At this point emotion takes precedence and the choice comes down to gut instinct and what “feels right” or “looks right”. Frequently we will then try to rationalise our choices, our way of making sense of our actions

It is now widely accepted in the scientific community that the majority of decisions we make are emotional. The remainder of our decisions are also guided and influenced by emotion. For those of us who like to think we are logical this comes as a bit of a shock to the system, however, it appears that our logic is at best a thin veneer of reasoning that we use for self-justification

The idea of trying to appeal to customer emotions is not new. Advertisers have tried to do this for years and market researchers attempt to quantify customer emotional responses and adapt products where necessary. Where Kansei Engineering differs is that it comes in right at the front of the design process. Initially it identifies the emotions that the customer would like to feel in relation to the product. For example, when buying a mobile phone, you may want it to make you feel successful, stylish, attractive, affluent etc. Then the link between individual non-functional design elements and desired emotional responses has to be identified. Once this link is understood, designs can be altered to achieve maximum emotional impact

Kansei Engineering advocates “style and substance”. Products and services have to deliver on all fronts: what the customer wants, for the right price and with appropriate quality. Failing to deliver at this level means limited chances of success and little advantage can be gained in trying to engineer emotional appeal

 Many companies and sectors try to make their products appeal to customers’ emotions via marketing, packaging, design etc. Some are very successful at this, the majority are not. Even huge global corporations with mega-million budgets only achieve about a 50% success rate with new products. This is in part because many of the methods used rely on individual expertise, market knowledge, limited research data and trial and error methodologies. Developing new products and services is by nature a risky business; Kansei Engineering is a rigorous scientific approach to designing-in emotional appeal that can reduce this risk